MegaMan Zero: Original Concept
by GeekyGamerCat
Summary: The year is 22XX. One hundred years have passed since the Eurasia crashed. Due to its debris, pollution has skyrocketed. Humans and reploids were forced together into a city fortress called Neo Arcadia. The Maverick Virus has been mostly scarce, but now civilian reploids have been branded as Mavericks and are being retired by X. Zero and Ciel Must save what's left of reploid-kind.
1. Chapter 1: The Repair Lab

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **Edit:8/13: I fixed some spelling errors, and changed some dialogue.**

Ch.1

Night had fallen on a city with a large red metal wall. A large building in the center of the large fortress stood tall. It was the shape of an 'X' and it, too, was dyed crimson. Its shadow towered over a smaller building. Then suddenly without warning an explosion happens! Smoke, dark and thick, pours into air.

A young looking blonde girl ran as fast as she could, her exploration team of reploids followed suit, each trying to shoot the enemy behind them. The sound of laser fire made the young woman's adrenaline pump more. In the process she even lost her own hand buster in the confusing shoot out. She didn't hear her men drop like flies as the sounds of their screams were drowned out by her rapid heartbeat, But in her head her mind was screaming loud and clear.

 _They're innocent, it's not their_ fault!

She finally reached a dead end as she saw a large metal door; it was as tall as the room and had the word Zero engraved diagonally on a shape that was similar to a 'do not enter' sign. Her right eye scanner picked up an energy signature coming from the other side of the door. She quickly sought out the door's control panel and entered the number code.

"Is this it, Ciel, was our Intel correct?" Milan, one of the few men that were currently left, asked.

"I-if it wasn't, do you think it'd be so heavily guarded?" The young woman answered trying to keep her voice steady as the door shuttled open. Ciel did her best to stay focused on the mission, and not think about her men that had just died. The rest of what was left of her troop watched by the entrance for more Pantheon mechloids. Ciel and Milan walked over to the center of the room.

The room was a repair lab and in the center of the room was a reploid with a flaming crimson frame and a golden flowing main of hair. He was in a kneeling position, and he was in full repair.

"This is Zero, right?" Milan asked skeptically. "He's not some pantheon in disguise or a bomb?"

"He's right where our Intel said he would be," Ciel said as she looked at him up and down. He reminded her of a samurai in those old history clips she saw once when she was younger, except, she had never seen a blond samurai before.

Out of curiosity Milan wanted to get a closer look at him only to be knocked back by a shield barrier. There was no need to try and break it, though, Zero's protected unless he walks out of the shield. Ciel looked around the bubble and saw the control panel to activate Zero. As soon as she laid her hand on it the sound of her other two soldiers dying caught her and Milan's attention. Milan started shooting his rifle as a flood of Pantheon hunters came and blocked their only exit and when pantheons shoot they shoot to kill. Ciel's hands shook uncontrollably as she saw the functionless reploids. She was starting to feel dizzy.

 _They're all innocent!_

"Ciel, get him activated, NOW!" Milan ordered as the two of them took cover behind the shield. Shaking off her queasiness Ciel worked faster than she had ever gone before. As she entered the last digit of the activation code, it happened.

BLAM!

Milan was shot and flew into the air landing just feet away from her. Ciel's mind didn't process anything after that. All she saw was the red oil that oozed out of her cherished friend. Time was standing still as her emotions hit in full blast. She was now seeing hundreds of reploid bodies, along with Milan's, all lifeless.

 _It's not his fault, it's not their fault! The reploids are all INNOCENT!_

She felt numb, barely noticing the surge of high energy that went through the reploid in front of her. The energy flowing off of Zero in waves was the only thing to snap her out of her haze as they hit her. Finally finding her voice she then spoke in confirmation, "Zero has been reactivated."

Hearing a voice behind him, Zero turned around to see a shaking Ciel. His system check had told him he had been upgraded, no weapons, though. He then quickly noted the situation as heard the shots being fired at the barrier around him and saw the dead reploid by the human girl.

"Zero, please, help me!" that was all he need to hear to get him moving, weapons or not he was going to save her. He spotted a buster gun as he ran out of the protective bubble and grabbed it. Then he started shooting, and it took a couple of shots for the mechloids to go down like a ton of bricks. It would have been nice if he had his Z-saber, but no, he had to settle for some kiddy pop gun.

'Note to self, sue the manufacturer for lack of quality,' Zero thought as he ran and shot at the mechloids. Ciel was following him as he shot at more opponents. Bombs, spiders, and electrodes this place was a regular death trap. Finally, they got to a clearing but there was a problem. The panel to the elevator was busted and sparking.

Ciel walked ahead of him, "Oh, great, a dead end. Hold on, I'm going to try to jump start the lift." her voice was laced with frustration as she tried not to get electrocuted. Zero thought now would be a good time to ask a question that's been bugging him.

"Mind telling me what the heck is going on?" Zero urgently probed.

Before Ciel could give an answer a giant mechloid busted through the elevator doors in front of her, and grabbed her. The impact of its entrance was so large it broke the floor and wrecked the rooms below. If it didn't have a hold of Ciel, she would fell three stories.

"Zero, run you can't fight a Golem with a buster!" Ciel screamed. Zero, though, still tried with the buster but it did little damage.

"Rats," was all Zero said. Then suddenly a woman's voice over a wall intercom came up. The screen was fuzzy and distorted but the voice was clear.

"Zero, here, take this." The voice said and something shot out a chute underneath the intercom and stabbed the floor. It was his Z-saber! Then the voice continued, "hurry up and save her, you don't have a lot of time!"

Not needing to be told twice Zero grabbed his sword and took a big swing at the golem. As its arm broke off its grip loosened on Ciel. She and Zero both fell into the hole as the behemoth robot exploded. As they fell Zero holstered his saber and grabbed ahold of Ciel bridal style and landed on his feet. In a split second he dashed out of the way of the huge arm and wreckage of the explosion.

They landed in the basement of the building; dim lighting filled the room as they looked around then they saw a transfer platform. Then Zero absentmindedly took a look at Ciel; she had a helmet similar to his old helmet, except it was pink, white, and lacked any horns on it. She had a smooth blue gem on her forehead and long blond hair with blue eyes. She wore a pink vest and a red, pink, and yellow skirted uniform. He half wondered if her look was modeled after him or Alia. Hmm, could that voice on the intercom have been…

It took for Ciel to mumble something inaudible for Zero to realize he was still holding her in his arms… and staring at her. A blush crept up on his face as he gently set her down. "Ah, sorry about that," He muttered.

Ciel, too, was equally flustered as she stood up. "Its fine… thanks for saving me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take down a golem. You really must be the legendary reploid, Zero."

"And if I'm not Zero," the reploid tested her. Zero wanted to know what her intentions for him were. "I mean, for all you know I could be evil or a copy?"

A somewhat frantic look crossed the blond girl's face as she shook her head rejecting his words. "But Alia said you would be here, she's the one who repaired you and gave you your sword!" Ciel blurted out nearly screaming.

Ah-ha, the voice was Alia, but Zero's deductive triumph was short lived. Making her own deduction, Ciel felt slighted by Zero. His trick was a blow to her self-esteem so she did the same with her next words.

"Besides, even if you aren't him, you're Zero in my eyes and that's good enough for me because you're the only one who can save us." Ciel pronounced full of confidents. She had lost too many friends and risked too much to have her hopes dashed. Too many people counted on her. Zero saw the fury in her eyes, her body language said she was about to cry, but instead she squeezed her eyes shut, and spun away from him. Then she began to speak once more.

"We need to go, another set of mechloids are probably coming soon. I'm going to check to see if this old Trans server still works. " she said all this as if she wasn't even upset. Zero was now worried, he was sure humans weren't supposed to pin up their emotions like she just did. He watched as she pressed random button on the terminal at a rapid pace.

"Okay, it works, I have our destination set." Ciel voiced, "I have it set two for transfer and then the computer will fry so we can't be tracked. As for any question you may have, please hold off on them until we get to the resistance base. Then I'll explain what I can."

'Resistance Base,' Zero wondered as he saw Ciel dissolve into a light on the Trans server. Was there a new maverick out break? Why did Alia send a human girl? He was unsure about what was going on, but right now, this transport was the only thing leading him to some answers. So stepping on the Trans server Zero headed into the unknown.

…

Ciel waited patiently as Zero arrived, this is the part she was dreading, he had questions. She had the answers, but that didn't mean he'd like them. In fact she was expecting the worst. Zero stepped off the platform and looked at the condition of the building. It was old and decrepit with rust coming off the walls.

"Welcome to our resistance base, Zero. Here we house injured reploids accused of being mavericks, "Ciel explained. "We've struggled hard to survive, but at the rate we're going we won't last much longer. That's why we were tasked to find you. You're our last hope, you and Megaman X fought alongside each other in the maverick wars one hundred years ago."

Zero listened to her hopeful plea and then spoke his mind, "why are you being branded as Mavericks, and why not ask X for help?" He felt the world was better off without him, especially with him having the Maverick virus. If none of the reploids were mavericks now they would be after being exposed to him.

"Officially, it's because there's an energy crisis going on. So the Neo Arcadian council has listed all civilian model reploids to be retired. As a scientist, I have been trying to work on a substitute energy that's renewable. Truth be told, though, civilian models have gradually being killed off for decades. The reason we have not gone to X is because… he's the one who's killing us." Ciel answered sadly.

This was a shock to Zero, X retiring innocent reploid, that's not possible. Anger rose in him, this girl had to be lying. He narrowed his eyes at her. "You're wrong! My best friend, my brother, would never retire a reploid without a just cause. I want to see Alia; I want to know what she has to say about all this."

"It's not that sim-" Ciel stopped her defense mid-way when she heard the door behind her shift open. Little footsteps ran into the room. Ciel turned around as a small body rammed into her and wrapped their arms around her waist. Zero saw it was a small blond reploid girl with a cat doll on her head.

"Ciel, I'm so happy you're back!" the girl cried happily. She then looks at Zero, letting go of Ciel, she stands tall in front of him. She next held her hand out to him for him to shake, and smiled. "Hi my name is Alouette, are you Mr. Zero?"

Zero had to admit that she was really brave to just walk up to him and he wasn't the type to direct his anger at a child. He took her hand and said, "Yes, Ciel was telling me what's been happening out here. She tells me that bad things have been happening." He spoke to her in a simple way, he recalled X speaking to human children in this way.

Alouette nodded as he let go, "yeah, a lot of reploids all leave and never come back, I was scared when Ciel left with uncle Milan's group because she might not come back." She then turned back to Ciel and smiled, "but uncle Milan kept his promise and brought you back, right?"

Ciel looked down in sadness, and knelt in front of the little girl. "About Milan's group, Al… they won't be coming back either. Zero, here, was the one who got me out in one piece."

Alouette was in shock, "but he always came back before, did any of them come back?" Ciel shook her head as tears filled the little girl's eyes. Ciel wrapped her arms around Alouette and picked her up. Ciel refused to cry, not while Alouette was at her most venerable. Then Alouette asked through her sobs, "They aren't going to the crusher, are they?" Ciel hummed a 'no' and shook her head.

"Crusher?" Zero perked.

"It's the Disposal Center; it's where some reploids are taken to be crushed. Countless have already died in it." Alouette was squeezing Ciel, causing her to be distracted. Wait, that's it! "In fact if the Center were to break it would be an even bigger distraction then going to find you. So much a distraction, that we could see Alia without anyone knowing."

"So you want me to trash the place," Zero deduced.

"Yes, if you want to see Alia; all of X's men need to be scrambled in order for her not to get found out she's been helping us." Ciel said sternly, "I can make the arrangement, but only if the Center is taken down."

"And how do I know you'll how up your end of the bargain?" Zero asked crossing his arms.

"It's simple I'll go with you when we head to meet her."

"Okay, let's head out there right now, where do I need to go?" Zero wanted to get to the bottom of this madness and he wasn't willing to wait. He wanted to see the truth for himself. Ciel then sighed and shook head.

'Zero is certainly impulsive for having such a calm demeanor,' she thought.

By now Alouette had veered off to sleep and Ciel's arms were getting tired. So she told Zero he could look around the base until she was ready with the transfer to the Disposal Center. He looked around from room to room. Some other reploids greeted him, they looked worn out, and their uniforms had fiber fringes sticking out. Zero could clearly see that none of them were built for combat. A good majority of their rooms were empty. Zero then saw someone, but it wasn't what he expected.

It was an old reploid man. He was hunched over hold a cane; he had a long facial hair and bushy eyebrows. Then he spoke, "are you going to stand and stare at me all day or are you going to tell me your name, young'un?"

"Uh, my name is Zero," Zero stammered after snapping back from his thoughts.

"My name is André, but you can call me old Andrew. Say… you wouldn't happen to be related to that red hero from a hundred year ago, would you?"

"Well, actually-" Zero began to answer, but was interrupted by the elder.

"That was a powerful reploid, he kept X in check, but no one knows what happened to him, though. Stories say he went into exile, but my wife would have liked to think of a happier ending for him. I miss her so…"

"You have a wife?" Zero asked trying not to discuss anything about him.

"Had, my boy, had. She died from old age two years ago. She was a human, she had hair like the color of a raven and eyes as grey as a storm. She sung so beautiful, even birds couldn't compare. I was a sailor when I met her, sixty years ago. She would always go to the beach to sing."

"How did you get to be old?" Zero asked. He had to admit he was curious as to how André aged.

"Ah, well my wife was growing old, and she became ashamed of how she was looking, so I had Ciel make me look older. That girl is very good at what she does; she wants to help us live in peace. She could have gone pretended she was human, but instead she gave up a live of luxury to help us reploids."

"Pretending she was human, if Ciel's not human, what is she?" Zero certainly thought she was human, but then again her head gem and helmet were a slight give away

"Ciel is a…well I think she's an advance reploid, you know how tech is, and how it grows every day. She may have been a newer civilian model or something, maybe you should ask her. She's coming this way."

Ciel stopped a foot away from the red reploid, "I made the call to Alia, she'll probably respond once the Center's destruction has been reported." Ciel said as Zero turned around to face, "I hope I didn't keep you long?" she still held a neutral face with her arms folded in front of her.

"No, I was observing your soldiers, and then I met Andrew here, he told me about his wife and how you made him look older. He also mentioned about you being a civilian reploid." Zero replied coyly as he folded his arms.

Ciel felt on the spot, Zero had been digging for information, and she allowed it. The reploids here had nothing to hide. She on the other hand wanted Zero to still think she was human; the reason being was because Zero is a Maverick Hunter. Maverick Hunters attack any reploid they consider will put a human in harm's way. If Zero kept thinking she was a human helping reploids then there was a chance of survival, but now if it were just reploids wanting to defend themselves they were consider a threat to humanity and need to be destroyed. She wasn't human, that was true, but she wasn't a reploid either. Ciel need to explain her predicament quickly, for she could see Zero was poised to strike as his hand was on the hilt of his saber.

"I'm not a reploid, but I'm not human either, I'm a cyborg. I'm they only one of my kind as far as to my knowledge." Ciel explained. She steeled her resolve as she saw the shock on Zero's face.

This threw Zero for a loop, there are no protocols for what to do about cyborgs, heck, and there weren't any cyborgs a hundred years ago. Were they considered humans or reploids? His scans picked up no hostility or the sigma virus. She just stared a waited for him to figure out this information he just learned. He decided to go with his gut and give Ciel the benefit of the doubt. Besides he wouldn't want another 'Repli-force' incident. He let go of the hilt of his sword.

"Fair enough, when can I leave out?" he asked.

"Whenever you're ready, you can use the trans server to get where you need to go," Ciel responded. Zero nodded and bid Andrew farewell. Just as he bypassed Ciel she said something, but this time letting a smile break through her mask. "Zero, please be careful."

ZZZ


	2. Chapter 2: Disposal Center (fixed 818)

**edit 8/4/18**

chap. 2

Zero was transported to a ruined city, surprisingly close to the resistance base. He looked at the night sky as stars tried to shine through the clouds of smog. The cold night air touched his exposed face as a breeze blew past him. This new body was strange, it had more sensory than his old body, which meant…

More pain.

Suddenly, a beep on his helmet called him away from his thoughts. He pressed the left side; Ciel's voice came through the speaker. It was distorted at first but it soon cleared. "Zero, can you hear me?"

"Affirmative," he replied.

"Okay, good, now up ahead of you is a metal door it will lead to Aztec Falcon, he's the warden of the Disposal Center."

"So, basically it's no different than anyone else I've face up against." Zero mused, "Alright then, time to have some fun." He then disengaged the comm and started slash at the mechaniloids that looked like spiked wheels. Zero was itching to tear something apart, everything felt surreal. X, supposedly, is now retiring innocent reploids, but what for? Some part of him, though, still kept screaming the answer, that history is repeating itself. That this war was another misunderstanding, but he needed answers from someone he knows and trusts, if not X than Alia is the closest person to ask.

Back at the resistance, Ciel was going through her surreal feelings, all the reploid soldiers here were like family to her, and the incident that happened mere hours ago was fresh in her mind. The memory kept on looping in her head like a never ending carousel. She tried to calculate a different outcome to the death of Milan's troop. Anything that didn't involve her using more _desperate_ measures, but it all ended the same…

Death.

Ciel was in fact so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear someone walking in to the room. They called her name, but still got no response. Finally, they resolved to tap her on the shoulder. Jumping in her seat she let out a small squeal, but sighed in relief when she saw who had tapped her.

"Ah, Cerveau, it's you. You almost gave me a heart attack." Ciel said as she looked at the grey haired male reploid with the orange tented goggles. He stood behind her chair as he crossed his arms and gave her a weary smile. Ciel face told him she was keeping her emotions contained as she was giving a fake 'I'm fine' smile.

"Well, at least I got some kind of emotional response out of you. I heard what happened to Milan, have cried yet?" He asked the question as it were like asking about the weather. No, she hadn't, and she wasn't going to, not until this night was over. Then she can cry, scream, yell, and do whatever she wanted to relieve herself. Cerveau knew this was typical behavior for her yet he still insist she open up. She turned away from him, and glared at the screen as she slouched in her chair and watched Zero slash at the enemy. Prior to sending him out her had Zero fitted with a camera to observe his surroundings.

After more than five minutes of silence passed, Cerveau sighed and decided to change the subject. "So, is Zero willing to help us?"

Ciel pinched the bridge her nose and softly groaned, why of all things did he ask her that? "To be honest, I don't think so, I mean, we're asking him to fight his own brother. He sees X as still the same passive reploid he used to be. The only reason he's even fighting for us right now is because it allows him to See Alia. Even if he does meet with Alia, who's to say he won't turn her in too for 'consulting Mavericks'." Zero's a Maverick Hunter, and the Resistance by humans and X's standards are Mavericks, virus or not. The only reason they all weren't dead by now is because Ciel has been categorized as a human, but that can only go so far.

" I can't rely on Zero if he isn't willing to help us, and I don't want to force him to help, either. Besides, who wants to follow orders from someone who only gets there troops killed. I can't even concentrate on my work without feeling that we're all going to die!" Ciel's emotions were straining her electro-larynx, making her voice sound more robotic than human.

"Ciel, please, don't say that, you're a good leader and scientist. What happened to Milan's troop was not your fault. None of the reploids' deaths are your fault." Cerveau tried to reassure his C.O. but it only got her more exasperated. She spun her chair around to fully face him.

"Eight years, Cerveau, we've been at this war, and we couldn't even scratch a dent in a golem! Zero accomplished that in less than ten minutes! Eight year of defending ourselves and all we have are filled graves. We've had to send the others away to a separate base, because this one is compromised. Our long distance communications are shot, supplies are low! Let's face it, there's no reason to go on! "

Ciel's twisted her chair back around, sighed, and questioned bitterly, "what are we fighting for?" Taking a pitiful look back at the screen, she noted that Aztec Falcon was defeated. She then gasped in horror as she looked at the comm on the arm of the chair.

Her speaker was on.

…

Zero jumped and sliced through a Galleon. As soon as its frame came smashing to the ground, Zero heard Ciel's voice in his ear. Apparently, she didn't know her speaker was on as she was talking with someone named Cerveau. Zero did his best to ignore what he thought was going to be idle chatter, but that plan quickly went out the door.

As the red reploid scaled the wall, Cerveau nonchalant asked about Ciel's emotional state. Zero heard no reply from the girl making him wonder if that was the norm for her. After trashing some more mechaniloids, Zero, finally, reached the metal door to the Disposal Factory when the conversation switched to him as the topic. The red reploid ran through the hallway as Ciel lamented her concerns of Zero's loyalty to X. Then as he entered into the crusher room, there he felt an emotion he hadn't had since Sky Lagoon fell.

Terror.

Dried oil was splattered on the wall panels; the smell of death reeked up the entire room. He then heard shouted pleas for help; Zero looked around only to realize that the calls were coming from beneath him. Zero felt sick as he heard Ciel suggest he would turn Alia in, if he did, would she be thrown into a place like this? Waiting for death to come crashing down on her? Has X truly become a merciless killer bent on the destruction of all reploids? Zero always knew X was hot-blooded and overeager to stop mavericks, but this…

This was too far.

A clanging sound snapped Zero back into action as a large bird-like reploid jumped from the wall on the other side of the room. He stood tall and arrogant and with a voice to match.

"I'm Aztec Falcon." The blue and yellow reploid announced haughtily. "You must be some of the garbage General Harpuia sent me to clean up, hee-hee, just in time, too." Just as Aztec said this, a buzzer sounded off. The floor began to drop somewhat slowly, tormenting its captives as they screamed in fear.

Zero had less than a minute to save whoever was below him, and Ciel still had her speaker on! Dodging lasers being fired at him, Zero went for an attack. He made a triple slash and cut the laser cannon off the reploid bird.

Ciel's words filled him with anger, making him fight Aztec even harder. For nearly a decade, she has seen nothing but the death of countless reploids. Everyone was just waiting to die by the hands of his best friend. As Zero was making the final blow on the reploid falcon heard her say words he once uttered. Only then, did Zero understand what Ciel was trying to say, but was too afraid to say it. Yet the bitterness in her voice was evident.

She wanted to give up.

No… he wouldn't allow it. Zero wasn't going to let eight years of fighting go to waste. He jumped down to the bottom of the crusher and freed three reploids whom greatly appreciated Zero's help. Hearing a small gasp as Ciel must have finally notice the comm; she quickly pressed it off. Zero then wondered if the speaker was a 'set up'. He decided playing dumb would test that theory. "Ciel… something's wrong with the comm, is everything okay, I've been getting nothing but static."

"Oh, sorry, had a bit of a malfunction," Ciel said her voice sounding weary possibly from embarrassment, or guilt. She did just express a very low outlook on the Red Hunter, but there were times when even X had his moments, so Zero brushed it off.

Before he asked to be transferred out Zero noticed something on the ground and picked it up. It was square and had a lightning bolt on. "Hey, what's this thing?"

"That would be a lightning chip; it must have come from Aztec Falcon." Ciel answered like a science teacher, "it's kind of like DNA data, but less versatile, it's strong against fire attacks, but weak against ice."

Zero suddenly heard a distant rumbling, "Ciel, you can transfer me anytime now!" he said this with the upmost urgency. Zero was then engulfed in a bright light as he teleported.

…

Zero stepped into the command center, Ciel was standing with her stance swaying and her hands folded. A reploid was standing next to her; Zero could only assume that this was Cerveau. He had grey hair and an orange visor; his clothes were green and yellow tunic.

Ciel was the first to speak, "Uh, I…we want to apologize if we distracted you on your mission. We also want to thank you for helping us." She finished and then turned to Cerveau to allow him to speak.

"I'm Cerveau by the way; I'm the engineer of some of weapons," He said.

"The busters could use an upgrade," Zero pointed out bluntly. While Ciel somewhat scowled at Zero for being rude, Cerveau gave a hardy laugh and smile, "that they do, but I've been low on supplies for a while now. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that if you need your weapons fixed, I'm the 'go to' guy."

Zero nodded in response, "When do we leave out to see Alia?"

"We can leave now, but we need to put these on," Ciel tossed him some human clothes, and smiled as she also held up a wig and contacts.

…

It took some work but Zero put on the disguise he was given and had grey hair and green eyes. Ciel's was brown hair and silver eyes. The guard uniforms they had to wear were a dark blue with black boots. They then were transported to Neo Arcadia.

Where they landed was in a blind spot of the cameras in the park entrances. They don't keep cameras inside the park so humans could enjoy it in private. Bushes and trees surround the park, keeping everything well shaded. The two of them snuck and dodged the eyes of the cameras. Finally getting in a place where there were no cameras at all and stood by a park bench.

Someone walked up hiding in the shade of the trees. They were in a black hood and stood in front of the two disguised figures. They then addressed Zero, "It's good to see you again, Zero."

"Alia, is it really you?" Zero asked. He got his answer when she pulled down her hood and revealed her face. Not much was different about her except maybe a new eye design, and she no longer wore a helmet. Zero smiled at his old friend, glad to see not much of her had changed. Alia's smile then faltered as she then spoke Zero in a more serious tone.

"Zero, there's a lot we need to talk about." As Alia sat on the bench she motioned for Zero to sit next to her. Ciel took this as time to go for a walk and let the two catch up. Zero then asked the questioned that had been on his mind since he woke up.

"Alia, what's going on, is what Ciel said about X true?" he looked at her with concern that he rarely ever shown. "Has he gone Maverick?"

Alia sighed and closed her eyes, "you destroyed the Disposal Center, that's proof right there of what X has been doing. He's not infected, but he might as well be."

Zero groaned he had hoped it wasn't true, "what happened to him to make him flip?"

"I'm not sure, it happened gradually, he really started changing after your demise. When we picked X up he said you were caught up in an explosion and we saw you with only a torso and right arm. I found your Z-saber and kept it all these years. X had a hole in his right shoulder, but the rest of him was fine. It's strange, though; he at first started to act a little like you, but as the years went by more wars happened. The Sigma virus formed new Mavericks. Commander Signas was killed in a raid, and X took his place. Skirmishes broke out between humans and reploids, and X started to harbor bias towards the humans more and more. In every battle he grew more ruthless and cold. Some battles innocent reploids were slaughtered along with Mavericks."

'Great,' Zero thought, 'this is my entire fault, even when I'm in pieces I mess things up.' Alia noticed his look and knew exactly what Zero was thinking. She hates it when he would do this.

"Oh no, don't you dare start self-blaming yourself! X is a big reploid; he can take the consequences of his own actions. Anyway, years past and fighting reploids began replacing human soldier, giving X more responsibility. X and I grew closer…" she left that sentence hang as she blushed. Then face went back to the solemn look.

"For so long I had just ignored the changes… that was until there was a report of Maverick activity going on the moon. The humans thought that making a giant elevator to the moon would be a good idea. They were making a city and a new generation of reploids. These new reploids were built with chips that had the Sigma virus in them. This allowed them to go Maverick at will."

This shocked Zero, reploids that could go Maverick at will, that's like a human that could attack willingly. Alia allowed some time to pass as she waited for her words to sink in, she then continued.

"Production of the New Gen reploids stopped, but that didn't stop X as he tried to retire them all." Alia looked down sadly, "I understand that they could go Maverick at any moment, but some of them begged X to spare them. Rumor has it, though, that some had escaped to earth and crashed landed. X still hunts for them to this day."

Zero then looked down at his own hands, and remembered his new body. "How come I have a new body?"

"Your old body was too damaged to repair; we got what we could of your parts. I was in charge of your repairs once technology had advanced enough to repair you. You still have some of your attacks from your last battle too, so that's good."

"Man, Dark hold would have come in handy when I was fighting Aztec Falcon." Zero somewhat joked, but it didn't get a laugh, Alia stayed on track with the topic.

"I wanted to surprise X but as you can see… I had to help those reploids. They were going to be killed for just living their lives, and I couldn't let anymore innocents die. X found out I was rebuilding you and put the repair lab under strict surveillance. It's why Ciel had a hard time getting to you."

"What about me, I have the maverick virus, if I'm around I'll start to cause even more chaos. Even if I didn't go Maverick, I still have the virus in my program." Zero said, prompting a chuckle from Alia.

"Zero, you don't have the virus anymore nor can you ever get it again." She said smiling.

A moment of silence past between them as Zero let the words sink in. He was cured; Dr. Wily's virus is no more. "How is it possible that I no longer have the virus?"

"Douglas, somehow found a cure, but he never said what it was. He had become a researcher fifteen years after your 'death' and was a mentor for a human scientist that X found. His death, though, will always be my greatest guilt," Alia looked down at her hands sadly.

Zero placed a comforting hand on the blond reploid's shoulder, "please, Alia, tell me what happened."

Alia sighed as she began to recount the past…

…

Alia was at her monitor, X had gotten a distress call about illegal experimenting going on in the Neo Arcadia Science Division. He also had to deal with the aftermath of a distant space-station exploding in orbit. The blue bomber was stressed out as it was investigating the cause, and now having to deal with trouble in his own sanctuary.

X had entered the building, and a doctor had directed him to where a test was taking place. The orange tented walls blurred by as X increased his speed. Alia hacked into the security feed. She tracked his every move and directed his to the active lab.

When X got to the active lab the camera spotted Douglas messing with a machine, but that's not what was shocking. Hooked up to the machine was a chair with a helmet, and wearing the helmet was a girl to look about fifteen, and she couldn't move. Her eyes were wide open but glazed over, and shockingly both her arms were missing. The machine was doing pulses to her brain. Why would Douglas be a part of this?

Finally snapping out of shock Alia heard X shout, "Douglas, what on earth is all this?!" Anger dripped from his voice. How could one of his friends do this, to a human child, no less?

Douglas turned around and smiled in relief, "X, thank goodness you're here, I need your help-." Douglas immediately stopped talking when X raised his buster to him. He had a look of confusion on his face, confusion and hurt.

"Why is this child connected to a programming unit?!" the anger in X grew as he spoke. The girl tried to speak, but she could barely articulate a word. She gave out only small coos like a baby, and her eyes welled with tears.

"No, you got this all wrong; I'm trying to get-." Douglas was then interrupted again.

"MOVE AWAY FROM THE MACHINE!" X yelled. His arm was shaking as Douglas walked slowly away stood facing X and the girl, as once more he tried to reason with his friend again. He had his hands up in defense. Alia could see the green reploid looked frantic.

"X, please, let me explain, I'm not trying-."

But X would have none of it, "shut up, you're nothing but a Maverick now." Alia wondered what was wrong with X; didn't he realize Douglas wasn't even armed? The blue reploid then stopped aiming his buster at Douglas, and aimed it at the wires that were connected to the helmet. He charged his buster. Realizing what X was doing Douglas charged at the blue bomber.

Douglas struggled with X, trying to clarify to him about the machine. "X, you can't shoot it, it'll damage her memory! You have to disengage her manua-." The buster went off, and it hit the green reploid dead in the center. All Alia saw the tears welling up in the girl's eyes, and seeing she was trying to move her mouth. The pink reploid then looked back at Douglas as a sad smile formed on his face. Oil leaked from his body as he winced in pain.

It took Alia a second to see that X charged his buster again, and went back to his intended target; he didn't even bother to give Douglas a passing glance. The blast hit and the machine was destroyed, Douglas mumbled something as he shut down, Alia didn't catch it, she was too disappointed in X.

…

"Why, didn't X listen to what Douglas had to say?" Zero asked sadly. Zero had always known Douglas to be a gentle reploid; he loved to make things, and was passionate about his inventions and loved history. If X had listened, maybe he was trying to help the girl.

"Paranoia, he's lost himself in a war that doesn't even exist. X thinks that eventual all old reploids with go maverick. He believed Douglas to be a traitor, I argued with him on how ludicrous that was." Alia then sighed in frustration, "but we won't know unless Ciel gets her memory back."

"Ciel?" Zero looked surprised; this explained why she was a cyborg. "Why have her come for me?"

"She need all the help she can get all she wants is for her friends to live where they can feel safe. She is also one of Neo Arcadia's top scientists. That means she has prominence, X won't have her harm, so as long as she stays with the reploids…"

"Neo Arcadia won't attack the resistance as long as she's with them." Zero finished for her. "If X truly has gone crazy then it's up to me to stop him, I promised him that."

The hooded pink reploid then stood up. "I need to be going soon, but here take these." Alia handed Zero a few data-files and a contact comm. He then placed then placed them in his sub-space pocket as Alia explained what they were. "Those are Douglas' files and reports. Most of them are encrypted, but one file. Contact me if you need anything."

Zero nodded in thanks then said his goodbyes to Alia, he then realized it was almost dawn and decided to go find Ciel. He then dashed off to look for her.

ZZZ


	3. Chapter 3:pink rose

Ch.3

Currently, at the Disposal Center a plethora of Pantheons were looking all around the area. They picked up parts of dismantled copies of themselves and other mechaniloids. Three figures stood surveyed the destruction; a bulky orange figure, an aerodynamic green figure, and a slime aquatic figure.

"Seems like the resistance is busy tonight," the orange one addressed the other two. His armor was base off a dragon which consisted of two horns and a bulky exterior. His weapons of choice were two guns. "I guess the half-breed wanted to get a few kill points in before we annihilated her and the rest of them Mavericks."

"Wrong Fafnir," the green one said as he analyzed a slashed up pantheon. He recognized the burn marks to something akin to his own weapon. "Ciel's troops don't carry swords. The damage done is too clean and it cauterized the oil in the pantheon. This was clearly a beam saber."

"Wow, Harpuia, since when did you become a detective?" the blue one said with smirk. Her Armor looked more like a blue one-piece swimsuit. She wore high-heels and had a javelin as her weapon. She then turned to Fafnir, "Our brother the modern day Sherlock Holmes. Dad's going to be so proud."

"Yeah, right Leviathan," Fafnir relayed back at her in a mocking tone. "The only thing that would make Dad proud is wiping out those Mavericks."

"Well, then why did he give a cease fire, if he wants them gone so badly?" Leviathan asked turning back toward Harpuia. "I, mean, it has been a month since we've actually outright attacked them." She know her bird themed brother was first to get Intel on what their father had decided on regarding the resistance. She and Fafnir had been getting upgrades at the time and were absent for the deration of the incident that took place.

"The cease fire was given because Ciel actually assisted with us in stopping a mercenary from killing the humans. Commander X decided to show some mercy give them a month to give them a chance to defend themselves before going after their base." Harpuia knew that for the resistance leader it was on a more personal level, though. The mercenary had attempted to bait Ciel with information she would have found valuable, but alas Commander X terminated the Maverick before he spoke of what it was.

"Well, I for one and glad that the cease fire is over. Now I can get back to squishing those Mavericks and turning them into scrap." Fafnir announced excitedly, he then took one of his large rifles and shot at a broken building. This was typical of the orange loud mouth, eager to fight, slow to think.

Leviathan gave a thoughtful look as she spoke, "I don't get it, if the resistance is a Maverick group; why risk their lives to save the humans? I thought Mavericks hate humans." Her tone of voice was oozed uncertainty.

"That's talk of treason," Fafnir yelled incredulously. "You don't actually have sympathy for those losers, do you?" his busters were slightly aimed toward her. His eyes twitched in anger while Leviathan gave a off a glare to challenge him.

"I'm not wanting to join them, it's just their motives don't seem to coincide with the profile of a Maverick." The fish themed reploid defended. She raised her javelin in defense of Fafnir. Then Harpuia got in between them.

"Enough, I don't see justice in destroying the resistance, but as long as they disobey the humans, then they must be terminated." The green reploid then decided to change the topic. "Now, come on we need to regroup with Commander X and Hidden Phantom and tell them of our findings." And with that the three figures teleported away.

…

Zero had found Ciel sitting on the grass, surrounded by an array of flowers. Her knees were buckled under her head. The brown wig Ciel wore hid any ounce of her face that wasn't hidden by her lap. If Zero didn't know any better, he would have thought it was Iris sitting there. He wasn't sure how Alia would think this girl was anything like him. She seemed to give off innocence even though she's been fighting a war for nearly a decade.

The red hunter walked up to her, noting the Ciel didn't seem to take not of his presence. Zero quietly called her name, but still no response. Slight fear went through him as he hoped she was okay, and that he wasn't going to have another girl dead in his arms. He placed a hand on her back causing her to jolt and unfold herself from her ball. The shock wore off as she realized it was Zero whom had touched her.

"Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off." Ciel said giving Zero a weary smile. "Did you and Alia have a good chat?"

"It went well," Zero answered, while his face showed some concern. Why would she doze off out in the open like that? He didn't bother voicing this concern; for the crimson warrior knew Ciel was expecting answer to weather he would help or hinder her plans. "I also have made my decision… I'll help you fight against X."

Then he saw it.

Hope had become alit in her blue eyes, and Ciel's weary smile grew and beamed like the sun. Without warning she lunged toward Zero, almost knocking him down, and wrapped him in a slightly firm hug. "Thank you… thank you, Zero, you don't know how much this means to me!" Ciel cried joyfully. "You've given us a chance to live!"

Zero, still in shock, awkwardly patted Ciel's back. Unsure as to why he felt embarrassed since no one was in sight. He finally spoke, "Y-you're welcome. Uh, we should probably head back to base. It's nearly dawn and I don't want us to get caught and, have to fight our way out of the park."

Ciel released Zero from her hug, she felt too exhilarated to be embarrassed by her show of affection. "Right, we should, but even if we were caught it's forbidden to fight in the park, anyway." She then began pulling out an escape unit from her sub-space pocket.

"Why is that?" Zero asked, still trying to get the blush off his face. He wanted to slap himself for let his emotions get the better of him. He didn't want to get too attached to the feeling of oil rushing to his cheeks.

"Since this place is all that's left of nature, it's considered a respected area. Arresting someone would cause a lot of destruction." She activated the escape unit and in no time the two teleported back to base. The two blonds were greeted by Cerveau as they took off their wigs.

"So, I see everything worked out." The engineer stated with a smile. It was one of relief as the two people in front of him nodded as he handed their helmets back to them. An electronic bell then suddenly went off in the hallways. Zero was about to take a fighting stance, but was put at ease when Ciel place a hand on his shoulder letting him know to relax. Cerveau spoke once again, "that would be the bell for breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Zero gave confused look, why do they need breakfast, shouldn't they just drink sub tanks to fuel up. Sensing his question, Cerveau explain that reploids can now eat real food as a staple for energy it also saves up on energy crystal rations for when they really need it.

Once they entered the mess hall, the scent of hot blue berry syrup and scrambled eggs hit Zero's nose. The sizzling of frying pans and grills could be heard along with the clanging of plates. A burning and rumbling sensation erupted from his lower abdomen. Silvia next moistened his mouth as Zero was intoxicated by the smells merging together. The red hunter was snapped out of it by the sound of Ciel's giggling.

"Never been hungry before, huh, Zero?" she smiled as Zero blushed once more. Man, he hated blushing, but Ciel was right, this was going to be his first time having food.

Once more resistance soldier came in and got their food as did Alouette. Ciel made an announcement about the death of Milan's troop and of Zero's agreement to help them defend themselves against X. Soon then everyone was allowed to eat, but the crowed was less lively.

Zero was enjoying the food, pancakes and eggs; he had secretly always wanted to try human food. But as he swallowed something occurred to him. "Where do you guys get all this food?" sort of hoping it wasn't stolen from out of peoples mouths.

Ciel was sitting diagonally from him at the rectangular table. Her eyes drooped as she was picking with her scrambled eggs and took a moment to answer. "Oh, well, we have a human benefactor who helps us out. She used to be a scientist, but now she runs a grocery store." Ciel smiled but it was like the same weary one in back the park. It wasn't her real smile.

This didn't go unnoticed, Cerveau saw her tired demeanor and then spoke up, "Ciel, why don't you go and get some rest. I'll have your meal saved for later." His voice was that of a firm fatherly tone. Ciel's face then dropped into a frown.

"But what about inventory," she argued anxiously. "Or tactical plans for the train that's coming in two days. It has more parts for pantheons to make them stronger. Then there's the-." Cerveau stopped her right there.

"You've been up for three days straight already, and you're still in shock from the mission last night. I'm surprised you haven't gone in to automatic shutdown yet." The last statement caused Zero to pause on the last bite of his pancake, and look over to Ciel. It made him think back to when he found her in the park. Was she shutting down?

"Mommy, you need sleep." Said Alouette out of nowhere in a small yet stern voice. "You do a lot for us and I don't want you getting sick." Cerveau was shocked, normally the little girl reploid would never call Ciel 'mommy' outside closed quarters, so as not to confuse people into thinking that she was Ciel's biological daughter.

Ciel then gave a defeated sigh and smiled, "well since you put it that way, I could use the shut eye." She then turned her attention to Cerveau. "You'll handle things while I rest, right?"

"Of course, now, go get some sleep." The engineer reassured her. Ciel then got up and gave a small wave to Zero as she left the room. Cerveau then sat back down with a sigh of relief, and thanked Alouette. Zero now had grown curious and again wondered if this was the norm of the resistance.

"What was that all about?" Zero asked as he finished his plate. Cerveau's face went into a creased line, he wasn't fooled earlier, he knew Zero heard Ciel tangent, but he didn't know the full extant. He then sent Alouette away with Ciel's unfinished breakfast. Finally, he began to answer Zero's question:

"As you very well may know our base, here, has been compromised. We have mostly everything packed for leaving, but leaving without being detected by X is difficult since we lost communications with other branches. His army will slaughter us if we travel half way into the desert. This is why we need you, Zero."

"You need me to destroy X." Zero affirmed, but Cerveau shook his head. He was right to assume that Cerveau had him figured out. No since in hiding the fact he knew most of their situation.

"We don't need nor want X destroyed. If the humans like to live without us reploids, and only have X around as protection that's fine. If humans want to live with us that is fine, too. But we don't want to be killed off just because it's more convenient or being 'rebellious'. We want what any human wants… to live."

"That's why Ciel has been trying to make a substitute energy source, but Ciel's burning herself out. She has to lead us, do research, be peace maker, and make sure everyone stays alive. She didn't ask for the job of being commander, all she wanted to do was help us find a safe place to live and be self-sustaining. She stuck with us, though, and considered us as a family."

As Zero took in this information he asked, "How did you become compromised?"

"A reploid named Dynamo came to us with a fake injury; he then stole our location coordinates and gave them to some higher up in Neo Arcadia. For some reason he then snuck into a missile launch sight and was going to take aim on parts of the human settlements. Ciel was still trying to get the information back, and X was trying to save the humans. This was when X learned that Ciel was our leader, and to him, she is considered human. So he gave us a month to prepare ourselves."

"But, you've been fighting for nearly a decade how had he not figured it out before?" Zero said trying to fit all the pieces together.

"Our first leader was old Andrew's wife Eliza; she was one of our human collaborators. She and Andrew had adopted a human boy many years ago. He wanted to help us, but we didn't want him on the battle front. So he snuck out, and was hit by some pantheons. We did all we could to save him but, the damage was too extensive. Soon after that Eliza's health went downhill, so she picked Ciel to be her successor."

Zero sat their flabbergasted; sympathy went out to Andrew. Zero didn't know what it was like to lose a child, but he knew what it was to lose the person you love most. He then became attentive once Cerveau began to speak again.

"Zero, I think it'd be best if you took up my offer of upgrading you weapons." He saw the look of questioning on Zero's face and elaborated. "Because, if X recognizes your saber, he's going to get suspicious and wonder _who_ gave it to you."

This revelation made Zero's stomach drop. He could be putting Alia in danger, he then handed his saber and buster over to the engineer. "I'll have these ready in a few hours, in the meantime, why don't you take a look at your quarters."

…

The door swooshed open as stepped into his room. The room didn't have much in it, a typical night stand and lamp, a bed, and a full length mirror. He sat on the mattress as it conformed to his weight; he actually felt the softness of the bed underneath him. He was sure that it wasn't as soft as other beds, but it was better than a station pod. Maybe that's why X always wanted one. Zero smirked remembering X when he first joined the Maverick Hunters. He had begged Sigma to let him have a bed only to be denied. After that he'd like to drive everyone insane because he wouldn't stop complaining for a month.

As Zero sat on the bed he lastly took a good look at himself in the mirror he was facing. He finally got to see what he looked like in his new body. It was less bulky and much easier to maneuver in and his feet didn't make an annoying 'clang' sound. He could almost pass for human if it weren't for his head gem. He smiled at the thought of walking the streets and people not give you fearful glances.

Zero's face suddenly returned to a frown, his thoughts then settled on how ever since he was first activated all he ever did was fight. He use to not mine fighting, but after Iris he grew disgusted with himself, and now he's fighting in another battle for peace. Part of him hoped that maybe even he could have peace with himself.

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen." He said to himself bitterly.

Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door, the red hunter walked up to the door and pressed a button on the key pad hoping that it was the right one. The door once again opened, and standing in the doorway was…

"Alouette?" Zero inquired the little girl reploid. "Is there something wrong?" Usually when a kid is alone then there's something serious going on.

But the blond child shook her head, amazingly the cat doll didn't fall off her head, she took her hands from behind her back. She revealed she was holding a pink rose with a tag. She handed it to Zero as she spoke.

"I grew the flower myself, and made the card tide to it. Mommy said that pink roses repre..repre… means trust, happiness, and confidence." She said as she struggled with the word 'represents.'

"Thank you, but why did you give it to me?" Zero asked hoping he didn't sound ungrateful.

But her only answer was, "because." She smiled and then ran off leaving a confused Zero. He then took a look at the tag and smiled making him feel a little better about himself as he read: "Thank you for saving mommy and please stay forever."

ZZZ


	4. Chapter 4: Train Hijack (Fixed)

**this one is abit short but oh well. Also please do not leave foul language in the reviews, thank you. Also I had posted an earlier version of this chapter... I didn't like the way I ended it. so I altered it somewhat.**

 **Edit:7/14: I DID ANOTHER EDIT, AGAIN.**

Chap. 4

Two days had passed since Zero joined the resistance, and he was about to start his first official mission on the team. Take down a subway train that's carrying new pantheon armor plating. For Zero it was a pretty good time to use his newly upgraded weapons. He was especially eager to use his Z-saber since it has a new triangular shape. It was lighter too and had more control. The buster was better, though, he didn't see a real need for it. Cerveau also said he had designs for two other weapons in the making as well.

Zero jumped and sliced at the livewires hanging from the ceiling and hacked at the mechaniloids flying toward him. The red ex-hunter finally made it to the train when Ciel spoke here next order.

"Okay, now this is going to be tricky. You need to take out the conductor mechaniloid running the train. It has a narrow opening and it also has fire and hydraulics that push you toward spikes in the ceiling. Be careful not to touch them, you will only have a ten minute to keep it from heading to Neo Arcadia. Then our troops will handle the rest."

"Understood, I'm boarding the train now." Zero disengaged the comm and hopped aboard the train. Again he slashed at more Pantheons. Finally he reached the doors of the operator.

As zero entered the room the warning signals went off in his head. The conductor was arming its defenses. Zero then switched to his buster and started to shoot dead center of its eye. The buster missed a few times hitting its shields.

Getting fed up with the buster, Zero changed back to his saber he dodged the hydraulics and flames and just started hacking at the machine until it was ready to blow. The red reploid jumped back to look at his handy work. The conductor then exploded and the train stopped.

"The conductor's been destroyed. Mission is complete." Zero then was then transported away.

…

"This is preposterous, you know." Alia said annoyed. "I'll show you I still have the sword." For the past two days her children have hounded her for whether or not she knew who used a beam sword besides Harpuia.

X had seen pictures of the cut up Pantheons and had his suspicions of who done it. The blue reploid knew she had been working on Zero since his 'demise' for almost over a century. To have him used against by those filthy mavericks infuriated him. He walked into the main lobby room with his family. Somewhat long brown hair poured out of his helmet and he had less bulker armor. He had a stern look on his face; he hoped that his wife didn't betray him. It would a profound disappointment to have to retire her.

Alia decided to go into her lab storage and show them a finely crafted 'Z-saber'. X examined it and then swung it towards Harpuia's head causing Alia to gasp. The wind warrior had quickly blocked it with his own swords. The blades sizzled and sparks flew.

"It's the real thing." X said simply as Alia smiled weary as she was still in shock. For years Alia had worked on an exact copy of the real thing, with some help from Dr. Henry Cerveau. Only he and Alia knew its flaw, it could not cut human flesh and since Zero never hurt a human and X would think of it as inconceivable. There is no known difference in the two swords…or at least not anymore.

X handed the saber back to Alia. As she put it away X spoke to his guardians. "Children, isn't there something you need to say to your mother?"

"Sorry Mother," they said in union. They almost seem like they were new-builts as they gave her a guilty look.

Alia almost felt guilty that she actually _was_ lying to them, "it's alright children, just remember that I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"Now that apologies are in order," X said to everyone in the room. "The reploid that made the attacks on us is an old Friend of mine. He is being tricked by those mavericks and needs to be shown we are not his enemy."

"But Commander what if he's been corrupted?" Harpuia asked feeling unsure of his father's old friend.

"Then Fight him until he remembers who his true allies are." X ordered as he began to leave the room but then stopped. "By the way, has anyone checked the subway shipments?"

…

"Okay that's the last crate," said Hibou as he sat down the last of the train's cargo in Cerveau's lab. Cerveau stood by making a list of the material.

"So far this is the tenth car to have complete Pantheon parts," he said turning to Ciel. For the past couple of days Ciel wasn't allowed to be alone for too long. Cerveau kept her busy by helping with supplies or explaining to Zero how much reploids advanced over the past hundred years. Cerveau also helps out with some of her research experiments. She mostly tested on plants to see if her energy resources would lean the plant off of the use nanotechnology and allow them to sustain a permanent life span.

Right now the two were opening the crates to see what made the metal stronger. Ciel looked through the large microscope and gasped. "Cerveau," she called without taking her eyes away from the machine. "Come take a look at this and tell me what the metal looks like to you."

"Why, what's wrong with it?" he asked as Ciel moved over to let him see for himself. Suddenly, the engineer started to gag and move away from the device. Ciel, quickly, grabbed an empty trash pale and handed it to Cerveau as he started regurgitating his stomach contents.

"Barbaric," he said once the engineer felt he was finished tossing his cookies. "Of all the awful things the humans could do to our friends. Melting them down for parts…"

"The reploid metal is also mix a strange metal I've never seen before." Ciel said in both fascination and disgust, "it's almost seems to mimic cell tissue… but they aren't exactly bonding."

"We should dump these parts into sulfuric acid and be done with them." Cerveau said bitterly as he washed the pale out in his sink.

"I agree, but before we do that." Ciel took a scalpel and tweezers and scraped a sample of the strange metal. She cringed as it moved like an amoeba; she quickly placed it on a glass slide, and put it in a sample bag. "I want to know where this metal came from and how it was made. I'm going to get as much of it as I can."

…

Zero went to his room after his mission and decided to look at Douglas' Journal. Finding out that his helmet had video set up was interesting so Zero used this opportunity to test it out. He placed one of the chips into the left helmet spike and lenses appeared over his eyes. The pixilation appeared and a screen popped up. An image flicked on showing Douglas in a lab coat no helmet and having red hair. He was looking as timid as ever on camera. Sitting in a lab, he stared at it, he began to speak.

"Uh, hi, my name is Douglas and I'm with the science and archeological industry of Neo Arcadia. I am here with industry head and my archeology partner, Dr. Kalinka Cossack." He turned the camera to the left and showed a young blond woman with emerald green eyes. She flashed a smile to the camera and then it went back on to Douglas.

"Now Dr. Cossack is very special, she was born over two hundred years ago. The reason she's alive today was because she was put into stasis, and wasn't found until about eight year ago."

"I was fifteen years old when Megaman…X found me." Dr. Cossack said in the background in a slight accent Zero couldn't place. Wait, fifteen? The camera showed the date of this recording. Kalinka was twenty-one when this was filmed. Zero calculated the time between then and now. This woman would be about fifty now.

Douglas had turned the camera back onto the human as she continued on. "When I found out I had been asleep for two hundred years I was devastated. For you see, there was an alien invasion that took out most of human technology. These invaders had come once before, but were stopped. Unfortunately that wasn't the case this time. I'm sure my friend Blues was probably able to stop them, but I'm not sure. So that is why I became a scientist and archeologist to see if I could find any traces of what might have happened."

"And that's also why we're doing this project. Because we did find something that will help humans and reploids learn about where we come from as well." Douglas said off camera.

Dr. Cossack smiled, "yes, and I'm sure my friends will be happy to be upgraded." Suddenly her watch beeped and she stood up. "Now, if you excuse me, I got toddler that just woke form their nap."

"That's also it for me, so see you for our first interview, next time." Douglas went to turn the camera off and Zero thought that was the end but then something else appeared on screen. It was a code that was hidden in the pixels. Zero rewind and paused it, figments appeared with an Alphabetic code.

The code spelled: Q-U-I-N-T.

…

Cerveau walked to Zero's room and knocked on the door. If Ciel was going to get more samples off of melted retired reploids than he wanted no part in it. Still feeling ill after seeing the metal, he shuttered.

When he heard Zero call for the door to open, Cerveau found the hunter lounging on the bed. He immediately felt guilty. Zero hardly had brake since he was reactivated, and now he was going to ask Zero to pretty much 'babysit' Ciel. Zero spoke to him taking the engineer from his thoughts.

"What's up Cerveau is something going on?" he asked.

"Uh, nothing, I just wanted to see if you were settling in Okay?" Cerveau decided to change his mind. He'll just have to have Alouette keep an eye on her from afar.

"It's as good as any temporary establishment is," he said. Zero hummed and then asked a question, "Cerveau, did you ever work for Neo Arcadia's Science division?"

Cerveau curiosity perked up at the topic. "Yes, I was, why?"

"Do you know anyone by the name of Kalinka Cossack?" The red hunter probed further. He sat up rapidly, excited at the prospect of getting somewhere.

"Yes, I know her; I used to work under her." Cerveau thinking back on the days, "she was fair to all the people that worked with her, even those who didn't like her." Then his tone grew dejected. "Sadly, she was replaced by a lunatic twenty-six years ago. He then fired every reploid in the Science division."

"Who replaced her?" Zero dug a little more.

"Probably the same guy who decided to melt reploids down into Pantheon armor." Cerveau blurted out.

Zero's face contorted to anger and he shouted an angrily, "What!?" Afterwards Cerveau then explained why he was had come to Zero's room in the first place. Zero decided he needed to take a look at the armor parts.

…

Alouette found her mother in her lab/bed room. The two shared the room; sometimes the young girl wanted her own room, though. It was not that she didn't love sharing a room, but the cyborg was a night-owl and at times she made it hard to sleep.

The reploid child was now observing her mother picking at the Pantheon armor. She retrieved a slime-like metal and placed it in a big jar. The samples she had already taken were merging with the newer samples. They formed like a giant grey blob with flecks of blue or white showing in one spot or another. Alouette had a feeling it wasn't dangerous.

"Oh drat," Ciel exclaimed. "My right hand is malfunctioning again." The woman then began to look around the room, and spotted what she was looking for. "Al, would you be a dear and bring me my tool bag."

Doing so with a smile the younger reploid girl walked over to the other side of the room. As she went for the bag, Ciel sat down in her chair and pulled her glove off. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably as she tried to worm off the rubber glove. It revealed a rusted arm of an older model Pantheon. It had little feeling in the wire-nerve tendons. She then observed that the malfunction was worse than she thought and rolled her sleeve up to the end of the arm.

Alouette sat the bag by her and Ciel began to dig in the bag, when suddenly, her lab door opened showing Zero and Cerveau. Ciel suddenly felt a rush of embarrassment, "Zero, Cerveau, what are you doing here?" she tried not to sound annoyed but some of it slid through.

The two male reploids looked at her concerned. As their eyes fell on her arm, "Ciel, are you alright?" Cerveau asked first. Zero was too surprised to speak; he had never seen such a sight. Her lab was full of plants in bio domes. It was almost like a jungle in her room.

"My arm is malfunctioning again." She said, "And I was almost done getting the metal alloy off the armor."

"Here, let me take a look." Cerveau grabbed Ciel's tool bag and started tinkering with the limb. Ciel tried not to wince at the pain. "You know you could have come to me and asked for a new limb, right?"

"It really wouldn't matter, they all feel the same," the blond woman reasoned. "Besides, the others need them more than I do."

"Yes, but what use would you be if your arms are broken," Zero interjected gaining her attention. Ciel blushed at the comment and avoided his gaze.

"Oh by the way Ciel, Zero wants to know about Kalinka." Cerveau stated nonchalantly.

Zero sighed, "I was curious about her since she's two hundred years old. She may know about mine and X's creator." As well what happened to Douglas prior to trying to save her.

"X's creator is Dr. Light, he created X after his predecessor was taken and went missing," Ciel stated like an encyclopedia. Cerveau stopped working on her arm; he didn't know she knew this. Zero didn't seem surprised though, or he didn't show it. Ciel didn't meet either of their gazes.

"How did you know that?" Zero asked. That knowledge was personal, only those close to X knew of Dr. Light. Also he had no idea X even had a predecessor, what happened to him.

"She's my mother," Again another reveal. Ciel still would not meet their gazes. Alouette then spoke up in questioning her.

"How come you don't talk about her, mommy?"

Ciel kept silent for a moment, "we aren't on speaking terms. The only time we talk is when it has to do with food supplies." Cerveau gave her a look of indigence.

"You mean she's the benefactor you mentioned before?" Zero's voice rounded back and Ciel nodded.

"Why haven't you been talking to her," Cerveau asked angrily, "you told me you talked to her when you were confused at what Dynamo brought up to you."

Ciel then finally meet with his gaze, and she glared in return. "I did, and you know what, she blew it off. Mom said I shouldn't dig into it. X wiping my mind was probably a good thing. She didn't think about because of X 'saving' me, from who knows what, that reploids would blame me for our situation. That all my friends were dying. That I can't take not knowing if what Dynamo said was true or not…"

"What did Dynamo say to you?" Zero asked softly this time, he knew more than anyone how Dynamo could get into people's heads.

"He asked me if I ever stopped to think a human could also go Maverick," Ciel relented. "Then he asked if I knew what the humans did to me?"

"Is that when X came in?" Zero's conclusion was confirmed when Ciel nodded.

"Since then, I've come to the realization, that people don't want me to remember something. I can't decide if that's good or bad." Everyone was silent for a moment that was until Alouette yawned Breaking the somber feeling in the room.

Ciel chuckled, "looks like somebody's bedtime, and mine as well." A yawn just escaped her lips. "I'll finish getting the rest of the metal tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find."

"Alright, your arm is finished anyway, and please, think about calling your mother." Cerveau implored.

"Alright, I'll think about it. Goodnight you two," Ciel said as she shooed the two males out the door. But before he left the room Zero had one thing left to say.

"Ciel," he said grabbing her attention, "what your past is, don't let it define who you are. You make your own future."

Ciel smiled, "thank you Zero." With that he walked out the door.

After Ciel got Alouette to sleep she prepared herself for bed. She got her pajamas on and finally took her helmet. When she got it off, she suddenly felt funny and her head started pounding. The room spun and the last thing she saw before blacking out was the liquid metal turn blue.

ZZZ

 **Okay I know I put a lot in this, but I'm making a one-shot of couplets that will sort of connect to this. Also their is going to be some MMBN cameos as AU characters. Why because one they are actually parallel to MMZ, and I like some of them.**


	5. Chapter 5: Onslaught in the Desert prt1

**Here is chapter five lots of deep stuff in this, mu ha ha ha!**

Ch. 5

In the streets of Neo Arcadia, a man and his wife return home a fancy dinner. Unbeknownst to them across from their home, someone was watching them. Leaning against a wall stood someone who looked like a teenager. He wore baggy jeans, a grey hoody, and a ball cap. The cap read 'Kei Yuki Express' on it. The boy smirk as the couple went into their extravagant apartment. Then he melted into the shadows of the alley behind him.

The man went to his office as he sat in his cushy office chair and turned on the little desk lamp. He opened up files on his computer, showing the work projects of various science experiments. Suddenly he felt an uneasy presents looming over him.

"I see you're still busy, even long after we've gone, eh, Dr. Floyd?" A voice behind him asked rhetorically. Before the man could even scream he was turned around and face to face with the intruder. The figure was tall and wore a long black robe. Long dark green hair cascaded from his head, almost covering his black and red eyes.

"Y-you, n-no, not you!" Dr. Floyd quivered above a whisper. He knew who this was.

"Tell you what Doc, I'll give you a chance, if you're willing to expose the illegal experiments you did. I won't do to you what I did to your other collogues."

"T-that was you? H-how could you do…?" the man was cut off.

"Of course that means you'll have to lose your fancy possessions, but that's a small price to pay than being locked up in a loony bin." The figure said smirking, waiting for an answer. The over confident look made Dr. Floyd angry.

"N-no, you don't scare me boy, you'll be hunted down like the Maverick y-aghh!"

The figure silenced the man by his hair gripping the sides of his head. Pulses of energy went to the man and his face contorted in to fear. The man fell out of his chair crying and screaming.

"They're no more mavericks." The figure then hacked his computer, and teleported without another word. Moments later Dr. Floyd's wife found him, shaking in fear, and then she too screamed.

…

"Al, did you hear anything last night, anything at all?"

"No, nothing, she was on the floor when I found her this morning. I was scared and I came and got you, Mr. Cerveau."

Ciel heard them speak as if they were shouting through a megaphone. She groaned as she stirred awake, "too loud," she murmured. He body felt like it was floating in an antigravity chamber, as she was waking up, she felt pinned down.

 _Doctor, the subject is secured, you may begin._

She then shot up in a panic; Ciel momentarily forgot where she was. Cerveau then waved his hands in front of her frantically. She then realized the on a scanning table, unrestrained. Zero and Alouette were standing by the door.

"Ciel, calm down, I'm just scanning you," Cerveau spoke steadily to her. "Can you tell me what happened to you last night?"

"No, I…" Ciel said still frazzled. She ran her hands through her hair; try to feel for the three bangs she had cut off so long ago. Then she remembered something, "my helmet, I took off my helmet and grew dizzy..."

"What else happened?" the mechanic asked taking notes.

"Nothing, I just woke up here thinking I was…somewhere else." Ciel groaned in pain, "My head hurts."

Cerveau looked concerned at her when he asked his next question. "Ciel, what about your right arm?"

She looked at him confused, "what do you mean? You fixed it last night." She then saw the look the three reploids shared with one another. Cerveau then turned back to her.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Ciel shook her head and took a look at her hand. It still looked like a rusty pantheon hand. But when Cerveau gently took her hand and lifted up her sleeve, Ciel's blue eyes widened.

It wasn't a metal arm anymore.

…

Zero thought this mission would be easy. Save a reploid who stole a Neo Arcadia plane, he had also got some info that was important to Ciel. But like everything for Zero, nothing was easy, especially when he was fighting a reploid who could literally turn into sand.

He called himself Desert man he worked under general Fafnir. He had looked like a red-eyed reploid covered in sand. A giant hand of sand went toward the red hunter. He jumped out of the way and slashed at the shield that was protecting the grainy reploid. The more Zero slashed at the shield the more he could see the face of his enemy.

After a few more slashes Zero finally destroyed the reploid. The red reploid got his breath after the reploid to explode. He then ran to the aircraft to find a reploid barely conscious. He had auburn hair that stuck up. a scare in the middle his face, shaped like an 'x'. He had an indigo sheen with red accents. He had boosters and buster holsters. His right shoulder armor looked like it was taken out.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Zero asked.

The reploid stirred awake, "Nm, yeah I can hear ya." The reploid slowly got up to stand. His left arm hung limply to his side, sparks flew around. "Oh great, my good arm is busted."

"Can you still walk?" Zero asked kneeling toward him. The reploid gave a curt nod. "Okay, trail behind me until I get us to the resistance." Zero instructed.

The two walked a ways, Zero sliced at snake like traps. He grimaced at the bomb throwing mechaniloids, Zero hated snakes. He hated real snakes, fake ones, and ones that fell out of trees… any kind of snake. They were uncanny creatures.

The red hunter used his triple rod to break the sand snappers. Then a swarm of hawk mechloids tried to dive bomb them; only for them to be shot out of the sky by the injured reploid. Zero turned around to look at him.

"What, I can't let you have all the fun." The invalid said.

Zero smirked, "well thanks for the assistance. What's your name any way?"

"Axl, and yours?" it was Zero's turn to reply.

"Zero."

They finally made it to the base, Axl collapsed from exhaustion. The two soldiers that were on standby came and took him to the infirmary for repairs. Zero then heard his comm beep and Ciel's voice appeared. "Thanks Zero for getting Axl back safely."

"No sweat," he said and then added. "Ciel, about this morning, are you…doing well?" Zero felt his words were clunky sounding. Not counting the fact that Ciel has been acting slightly standoffish all day. She was avoiding the repaired arm situation, choosing to work instead taking Cerveau's advice. Zero had been slightly worry about it as he recalled their conversation.

 _"Ciel you should take a break, this past week's events can't be good for your mental health."_

 _"No, if I rest now, we'll be even more delayed in leaving."_

"I'm fine, you should get cleaned up, I'm sure you're covered in sand." Ciel said all too quickly. Zero walked into the base, and was now walking to his room. He went to take his boots off and dump the sand out. It poured into a pile.

Curiously, he began to contact Alia to see if she could get into contact with Dr. Cossack. That woman was Ciel's mother and she knew Douglas, maybe Zero could get answers for both himself and Ciel. He sat on his bed and activated the comm. As he had hoped Alia answered, "Hello Rei, how can I help today?"

"Rei?" Zero questioned the name.

"Your new codename," she elaborated. "Now, make it quick, I can't stay on channel for long."

"Rose," Zero decided to give Alia the codename. "I need to know if there is some way for you to get into contact with a woman named Kalinka Cossack?"

"No, I can't, the Neo Arcadia Maverick hunter protocols strictly forbid interacting with a human unless there is danger," She explained. Zero was now equally annoyed, who came up with a stupid rule like that? The Maverick wars tended to bring people together, human and reploid. Now, though, things have definitely changed.

Zero wanted to continue the conversation, but the P.A. system activated. " **MR. ZERO PLEASE COME TO THE IMFERMIRY RECOVERY ROOM.** " It then repeated once more. Zero then hung up and put his boots back on, and walked out the door.

…

Zero walked into the infirmary to see Ciel standing next to Axl. They were finishing up a conversation, "all anyone knew was that the next day, Steel Massimo's cape became the new sail for the boat," Axl finished. This had gotten a laugh out of Ciel in return.

"Ooh was it Forte," Ciel asked excitedly.

"Not sure, but all I know is Massimo thinks twice now before giving Roll flowers." Axl smiled.

Zero somewhat felt like he had just missed out on something. He then cleared his throat, Ciel noticed him. "Oh, sorry, Zero, I didn't hear you come in." her smile sobered and she got serious, "Right let's get down to business. Axl what's the information you have?"

Axl's smile, too, disappeared, "well from what I know. There is a boat load of stuff going down in the desert. Theirs a secret base prison, Tyran's troop were taken to it. I tried to injure the shuttle with the one I barrowed, but as you can see that didn't work."

"Tyran, so he did make it to you guys…" Ciel trailed. She then thought of the aforementioned reploid.

"Who's Tyran?" Zero asked, again not a big fan of how left out the loop… or how chummy Ciel and Axl were.

"Eh, Tyran is a reploid whom I have a bit of an _impasse_ with." Ciel mentioned shyly as she rubbed her left arm.

"Ha!" Axl barked, "Don't sugarcoat it, Ciel. Tyran hates Ciel for being picked as leader and… wait does Zero know that you're a cyborg?" the last bit was geared at Ciel.

"Yes, he knows," Ciel said rather shortly, wanting to get back to the situation at hand. "Was Tyran able to tell you we needed assistance with evacuation?"

Axl threw a look of confusion, "no he told us two and a half weeks ago that you only needed mission reports. That and commination was down because of the sandstorms. Why what's wrong?" Ciel stoically stared for a moment before answering.

"Oh nothing; just getting hacked, losing a three-fourths of my men to Pantheon and Golem attacks, and X finding out I'm leader of the resistance." Ciel listed off with a smile that did not reflect her current mood; in fact the two reploids in the room were sure that the temperature dropped some degrees.

"T-that bad, huh?" Axl said nervously.

"Should I go look for that prison?" Zero asked. He did not want to stick around to see what Ciel was like angry.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would appreciate it," Ciel said as steady as she could without accidently snapping at Zero.

"Wait up, I'll come with you." Axl quickly jumped off of the repair table and grabbed his busters. He wanted to leave the room just as quick as Zero.

…

Zero and Axl were teleported into the desert. The red hunter then asked Axl where the prison base might be located.

"It's close, about some miles away from where I crashed." The young reploid answered. Zero nodded and both headed out on their trek. Zero slashed and stabbed with his Z-saber and Triple rod. Axl while shooting down the eagle mechaniloids, decided to strike up a conversation.

"So is it true you're the legendary hero, who stopped the Maverick Wars?" Axl started while taking out another bird.

"I'm no hero," was his reply. Zero never thought himself a hero; he was the reason Mavericks existed.

"How modest," Axl said with a bit of sarcasm. "But Ciel must think differently, especially if she trusts you enough to know about something as personal as being a cyborg. How long have you been with the resistance?"

"Four days." Where was he getting at with this conversation, anyway? Zero took out more snake mechaniloids in one hit. Again he shuttered at the look of them it reminded him of the area that Web Spider protected. The snakes would fall from the trees and chase him.

Zero decided to change subjects as they took down a fire breathing camel. "Where do you come from Axl? You don't seem like you average reploid."

"Well, I use to work on the moon as a Maverick Hunter, but I had to take a sudden change in careers." He answers sheepishly.

"So you're one of those New Gen reploids?" Zero asked. He didn't miss the look of hesitation coming over Axl's face before he answered.

"Yeah… but I'm not gonna go Maverick." The younger reploid answered honestly. "The thought of just going Maverick is sickening."

Seeing this, Zero gave him the benefit of the doubt. "Relax, I get it, you got your own personal fight going on." The red hunter commented as he rested his saber on his shoulder. "I'm not going to retire you, unless you _do_ go Maverick… or call me girly bot." he added that last bit in as a joke.

Axl smiled, "then you would not like Forte, he insults just about everyone, but I've been told that's just to hide the fact he cares. He's kind of my boss."

Axl stopped walking and looked at the tracker before Zero could ask who Forte was. He aimed his buster at one of the sand drill and fired at it. "The signal shows it's down below ground."

"Alright then I'll take the next one." Zero hopped over to the next sand drill and slashed the core of it. The sand suddenly fell through like a waterfall going in a bottomless pit. "Hey Axl, I think I found it," Zero called.

Axl jumped over to Zero's side. "Cool, let's go start us a prison break!"

Both reploids slide down into the narrow pit one at a time, they now stood in front of an electrical gated. Zero decided to see if Ciel was on the line, "Ciel are you at the helm, we have a problem."

"I'm here; I'll scan the fence to see if I can hack it." She sounded less angry than she was before, it must have deflated some. "There you guys go." Ciel said just as the gate had been hacked. The passed on through to the underground.

…

The area had spikes and a frozen water area allowing a turtle-like reploid to throw bombs at them. Suddenly, something occurred to Axl as he looked at the ice. "Hey Zero, you wouldn't happen to have a flame chip, would you?"

"No, why?" the red hunter turned to his partner to notice the nervous look on his face.

"I think the guy in charge here has ice powers, and I don't have any fire attacks." Axl said nervously. Zero pondered this for a moment.

"Then we're just going to have to make do with what we have." He finally said.

"Okay, but it won't easy." Axl shrugged. As if anything ever was.

After going through more mechaniloids Zero and Axl made it to the prison gate and had Ciel hack it. "Okay you two, make sure not to get caught by the pantheons. In prisons they usually have thicker armor than the standard hunter models." Ciel warned. "That and they can put the prison on lockdown."

"Duly noted, we're heading in," Zero said. Axl and Zero split up and searched for the prison finding seven captives. As they released the last of the prisoners, Axl noticed a certain reploid and pointed him out to Zero.

"That's Tyran," he whispered to Zero. Said reploid had black and white hair. The bangs flopped over his forehead. His eyes were a lemony yellow that held a proud look in them. He had the same green uniform all the other resistance members had. This was the guy who hated Ciel?

"Hey, Kingbird!" Axl immediately addressed with some authority slightly in his voice. Tyran turned to who had called him by his codename and quickly paled.

"A-Axl, what are you doing here?" He asked quivering a bit.

"I'll explain back at _Ciel's_ base." Axl said with emphasis on the fact that Ciel is still leader. "But for now you and your squad are to take the transfer out of here." The spikey haired reploid ordered.

Zero had to wonder how Axl outranked these guys. He seemed younger than most of the Reploids here. He made a note to ask later, but now they needed to allow time for the resistance troops to get to safety. Axl and Zero headed off to the wardens room.

Inside was a hulking blue and white stag reploid with antlers that looked like snow caped mountains. He then spoke with a raspy voice saying, "so you two are the ones responsible for releasing my prisoners!"

Axl couldn't help but snicker at his design, "hey Zero, check out the ugly goat."

"What'd you call me!?" the robotic elk fumed as steam came out his nostrils. Zero smirked and joins in the jab.

"Now, now, Axl; it's not his fault. The manufactures obviously were confused when assimilating him. You can clearly see he was supposed to be a miniature horse." Zero was sure his insult fell flat, but it did get a rise out of the ugly steer.

"Ooooh! I, Blizzack Staggroff, will turn you two into ice sculptures for Lady Leviathan! " and with that the battle began.

The two hunter reploids jumped up to the wall to avoid the icy wind cannons. Zero equipped his boomerang shield and Axl took on his trusty busters.

"Axl aim for his arm joins, I'll go for his legs," Zero instructed.

"You got!" Axl replied. Dodging icicles and aimed for the bulky fans. Zero threw his shield toward the stag's legs. It rebound and tripped the bull up causing it to land on its back. Axl charged his busters with enough plasma to take out Stagnoff's arm cannons.

Regaining its balance the bull stood back up and charged at Axl, pinning him against the wall. Contact with the bull was causing Axl's body to freeze. Zero tried acted quickly by jumping on his back but his boots froze as soon as he touched him.

Ciel saw this from the camera and jumped out of her seat. "Hold on you two I'll send back up."

"Don't bother, I'm heading in there." A new voice came through the speaker. Ciel's eyes widened at the voice. She knew whom it belonged to…

Stagnoff was now thrashing, trying to get Zero off his back. Then, suddenly, from the air a super charged fire-coded buster shot hit the frost deer point blank. The blast was so powerful it melted the ice gathered around Zero and Axl. It alone also melted Stagnoff to the point that of being a puddle.

"What was that?" Zero said as he tried to regain his composure from being raddled. He then heard Axl give a groan. The figure from above then landed in between the two reploids. He wore a black and gold helmet that had fins jutting out. A triangle head gem sat in the middle of his forehead; it was an indigo color. The rest of him was covered in a tattered cloak, save for his eyes… They were red.

A maverick's eye color.

The figure walked over to Axl and picked him up. As the figure supported the young reploid he finally acknowledged Zero, "hurry up and grab that ice chip." He the then transferred out of the room. Zero slowly got up and walked over to the reploid stag corpse and picked up the lasted element chip. The red hunter then as well transferred out.

…

Ciel was standing by the infirmary room waiting for Axl to be fixed and thawed out. She was lost in thought, she didn't want to face Tyran's platoon yet. Things between Tyran and her always became a fight, even when she was trying to be peace maker. But she knew she was going to have to face him soon or later.

Too bad it was sooner.

"Well Ciel, I'm surprised to see you're still alive and kicking." Tyan said with a smirk on his face as he pulled her out of her thoughts. He had walked around the corner to find her standing by. He leaned against the wall casually.

"No thanks to you Tyran, did I not order you to send back for assistance to evacuation procedure." Ciel gave the dirtiest glare she could muster. "Now because of your negligence, Milan and others are…"

Tyran eyed her angrily "that not my fault, they chose to follow your orders, if anything that's your fault. Anyone whom choses to fallow your orders will wind up dead, you're nothing but a walking hazard."

"How dare you," Ciel said through clenched teeth. It took all her might not to shout. "How can you say that about your own kind?! Don't tell me you've gone Maverick!"

Tyran smiled cruelly, "no, I'm more than willing to follow any human whom earns my respect, even a reploid. Then there's you, Ciel, you are neither human nor a reploid… you're an abomination. You don't belong to anything, and with that trouble follows you like a shadow. " he paused and walked up to Ciel just inches away from her face. Ciel did her best not to show his word's effect on her but she faltered.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if X never found you?" Tyran continued with a rhetorical question, "I have, for one thing, there would be no war. Reploids wouldn't have been banned from Neo Arcadia, and…" the male reploid got right up to her ear. "Enzan, wouldn't have died a death that was meant for you."

Tyran let the words hang as they sunk in, but instead of hearing sobbing as he expected, Tyran heard an uncharacteristic chuckle then Ciel spoke but not in her voice. "Hey boss, did you catch all that?" 'Ciel' then disappear in a white light and Axl took her place.

Then someone walked out of the shadows with red eyes aglow. "F-Forte." Tyran stuttered falling back and crawling away from the two other reploids' direction.

"Yeah, I heard it," said Forte in a soft voice, but there was no mistake he was angry. He swiftly closed the distance between Tyran and himself, and loomed over the quivering male. "It seems to me you have a problem with the chain of command, Tyran."

"No, please you misunderstood-!" Tyran was quickly cut off by a hand grabbing his shirt. A swoosh of a cloak showed it was Forte who grabbed him.

Forte then spoke again, "listen up, Ciel may be fine with mutineers in her ranks, but I on the other hand have no tolerance for them. Especially, when a pile of junk like you thinks he can take out anyone he wants." He then lifted Tyran off the ground, still holding him by the throat. Forte then turned to Axl. "I'll be back and if anyone asks where he went tell them he left not wanting to be under Ciel's orders."

Axl nodded and Forte teleported away.

ZZZ

 **More Forte in the next chapter and he'll buttheads with our favorite maverick hunter! oh and Fafnir's fight is will be in too. Oh and sorry if there's not enough action I don't really write fighting scenes well. BTW if you want to know how Forte got to 22XX you need to read Countdown to Zero, it's a one-shot I posted...uh however long its been since I've posted. it kind of explains things without revealing too much.**


	6. Chapter 6: Onslaught in the Desert prt 2

**This chapter was a headache to write and almost became a two parter but I'm glad I'm posting it. Also sorry about the action not being that great, I'm not very good at it.**

Chap. 6

"So who's the maverick that brought Axl in?" Zero asked pointy with his arms crossed his arms. Moments ago he had walked into Ciel commander room annoyed that he could feel his feet were cold from the melting ice in his boots, and concerned that Axl had been taken. Ciel informed him that the freed prisoners made it safely, and Axl was being fixed for minor damage. The woman then handed him a chair so he could sit down dry out his boots.

"Maverick?" Ciel threw a confused look towards Zero as she gave him a towel. "Oh, you mean Forte. No he's not a Maverick, headstrong and temperamental, but not a Maverick. He was just designed to look scary."

"That's Forte?" Zero took the towel gratefully and began to dry himself off. "Why is he here?" For some reason the guy infuriated Zero.

"Probably for Axl, Forte is leader of the Scavengers," Ciel replied then she saw Zero mirror the confusion she had a moment ago. "They're a group of nomadic reploids that looking for useful things that may have been abandoned by humans a long time ago. Sometimes if they find a building is salvageable the Scavengers would fix the building, that's how we get our bases." Ciel explained.

A moment of silence passed between the two as Ciel mopped up some of the water on the floor. Zero thought back on Ciel's words. He had to wonder… if Forte was just a simple scavenger, why was he so powerful?

"Zero, if we find a safe place where X and Neo Arcadia can't inflict harm…will you come with us?" Ciel asked giving Zero a hopeful look.

The question caught Zero off guard; he didn't really know what to say. "I'll have to see…" he muttered. Ciel didn't seem satisfied with his answer but she nodded nonetheless.

Zero was just about finished drying off when the door to the commander room opened. The strange figure of Forte walked into the room. He glared daggers at Zero as soon as he spotted him. Zero returned the gaze; a silent battle pasted between the two until Ciel's voice cut in.

"Forte, I'm glad you're here; I want you to me-."

"I know who he is," the cloaked reploid cut her off. Forte then formed a smirk behind his collar and chuckled. "Mega Man X's former partner, DWN-infinity."

Zero was shocked, he had never told anyone his series number, not even X knew. How did this reploid know it? He then intensified his glare tenfold at Forte, "how do you know that designation?" he demanded with his voice dangerously low.

"Heh, sorry, I only give information if I get something for it in return." Forte's smirk widened into a twisted smile. Ciel gave a curt glared at her guest; what was Forte up to?

Zero held his stare not blinking, "what do you want?"

"How about a fight to see witch of us is stronger?" Forte offered. Forte was a fighter and in order to get information.

"NO!" Ciel shouted before Zero could answer. She couldn't remain quiet any long and she faced Forte. "Now isn't the time for one of you rival battles and we don't have the resources to do an _extensive_ repair job."

"I accept." Zero said leaving Ciel speechless, "but I want something in return."

"Alright, name it." Forte said eagerness alit in his red eyes.

Zero crossed his arms and stood confidently as he crossed his arms, "I want you to tell me about my creator."

…

Fafnir was itching for a fight, and had no one to spar with. So when he got a report say that there was a high energy signal in the desert he got very excited hoping that it was Zero. So Fafnir decided to scramble his troops to go after the evil Maverick leader Ciel and to test his might against his father's friend and bring him back to their side. He was about to board his aircraft when Harpuia walked in.

"Fafnir, what on earth is all the commotion?" he demanded in his soft tone voice, "you're frightening the humans."

"Well those frightened humans will be thanking me once I single handedly destroy the resistance." Fafnir's answer was smug as he posed as if he were taking a picture. "And then I'll remind Zero that he should be on our side, and make that cyborg beg for death."

Harpuia with a swift movement grabbed his brother by the scruff of his collar. The two were nose to nose when the green brother spoke, "remember, Dr. Ciel is still by law considered human. It's the only reason we haven't decimated those mavericks. I would be wearier of the harm you wish to inflict on her; it might make some of us wonder if you're not a maverick." Harpuia then released Fafnir with a harsh shove to the hanger floor. He then turned on his heels to walk away, but not before say, "make sure you retrieve Zero, that is of the upmost importance. Then we will worry about the punishment Dr. Ciel will receive."

Fafnir watched his brother's figure disappear as he rubbed his neck. Harpuia's desire to uphold justice can be so annoying. The gunner general then boarded the aircraft as it began take-off.

Harpuia heard his brother's aircraft leave as he stood on the air-lift, and closed his eyes. He recall a memory from eight years ago of a conversation he had with the now defamed Dr. Ciel Cossack.

 _The Guardians always had to do a weekly report on the strange cyborg; this week it was Harpuia's turn. None of the siblings knew why their father was so admit about her doings, they assumed it was because one of his former friend's experiment on her._

 _Walking into the Neo Arcadia Science Division Center in its late hours, Harpuia found the twenty-three year old alone typing away at the comp keyboard. "Harpuia," Ciel acknowledged lightly while never taking her eyes off the screen, and her fingers danced around pressing keys._

 _"The way you know it's me is unnerving, Ciel." Harpuia commented; unlike his siblings, he was the only Ciel ever spoke to. The others she plainly tuned out, she didn't even acknowledge Commander X when he would check on her work._

 _"Fafnir stomps in, Phantom has a lighter step then you, Leviathan has clicking heels, and X smells like buster fuel." She told him causing Harpuia the feel uneasy that she was able to get all that from just hearing and smelling. When Ciel was in 'work mode' she appeared to lack any emotion, and focused solely on analyzing._

 _Ignoring his uneasiness, Harpuia asked he what she was working on, but the blonde didn't answer and since her three bangs covered her eyes, he had no way of knowing if she heard him. "Fascinating…" she mumbled to herself and then turned around to look at the green reploid. "Harpuia, why are so many old model reploids being branded as Mavericks?" she asked now sounding curious._

 _"They're using up too much energy and it's taking away from the humans." He answered, this was the answer he was ordered to give if anyone asked. Ciel frowned at this and pointed to a pie chart on her computer screen. "Besides the law is the law."_

 _"Then why does this flow chart say that the Science Division and weapons manufacturing plant are the highest percentages?" the blond asked again this time sounding skeptical, " the reploid don't even make have of that and Maverick by all classifications are rouge and/or infected reploids."_

 _Harpuia rushed over to another nearby computer and typed in a few keys while Ciel continued ranting, "And how come no one has done any research on a renewable energy source?" Ciel finished as she realized that Harpuia had just deleted all her finding._

 _"I would advise you not to look any further into the matter Dr. Ciel; it will only get you into trouble." He said curtly, almost warning her. "Now, I will kindly ask you to vacate the facility, and get some rest."_

 _Ciel clenched her fists so hard her gloves ripped, and she stood to leave, but not before giving a final word. "You claim to up hold justice, but you're willing to throw more innocent lives away. Where's the justice in that?"_

Now, presently, Harpuia was beginning to wonder himself, but then resolved. He had orders to rid Neo Arcadia of any threat, and now that threat was the resistance. They pose a threat to all that Commander X has built. They needed to be destroyed.

…

Sand flew into the wind as Zero and Forte stood feet across from each other. They were far off from the base as not to cause any damage to the area. The heat of the desert caused the building to appear to be wobbling as the sun beamed down its unforgiving light.

"So how to you want this battle to end," Zero asked, being the first to speak.

Forte smirked, "it's simple, the first one to collapse from exhaustion loses." He then paused, "but first I'd like to add on something to our little battle. If I win this fight then you have to leave."

"And why would I do that?" Zero asked with anger seeping into his voice. "Ciel's the one who asked for my help. You don't have any say in the matter." As soon as the words left Zero's mouth Forte charged toward the red hunter.

ZWARP!

The Sound of Zero's saber activated as he blocked Forte's attack. The caped reploid had his own energy blade; it was purple and sporadic making it appear almost unstable. It clashed against Zero's green blade causing sparks to fly.

"Ciel isn't always the best judge of character," Forte commented. "She woke your sorry carcass because she backed herself up into a corner."

Zero disengaged his sword from Forte's daggered and got some distance between them and smirked, "sounds like someone's jealous."

Zero then dashed toward Forte and sliced at him, but his adversary disappeared and reappeared behind him. Forte grabbed Zero's hair, attempting to throw him over his shoulder, just as the red hunter threw his boomerang shield. The flying buzz saw flew back around and hit Forte in the face. This caused his grip to loosen as the finned helmet reploid covered his face with his hands.

"You're gonna regret that!" Forte growled as he charged his buster and let loose a burst of energy. The two dodged and threw punches one after the other. They were slicing and shooting all in the matter of minutes, and neither tired yet.

As Zero dodged another energy blast Forte teleported beside Zero and kicked Zero in the face. The force of the blow caused Zero to land a few feet away from Forte. The black and gold reploid laughed, "C'mon Zero, aren't you supposed to be the greatest creation? The one to keep fueling the rivalry that gave _him_ motivation in life?" Forte mocked as he closed the distance between him and Zero. Then without warning Zero extended his blade as it barely touches Forte's neck.

"W-where did you hear that from?!" Zero demanded as he spat out sand and the light of his saber intensified his glare. Forte only smirked before the blade was pressed closer causing a sizzling sound as it barely got past his armor.

"What, did you think you were the only one _he_ told was his 'greatest master piece'?" Forte said almost bitterly as he charged up his buster once again. As Zero was getting ready for another round of fighting, when suddenly the sound of rumbling was heard.

The two reploids looked around as the noise got louder; they were trying to find the source. Finally the set their sights on the sky and saw an orange air-carrier dropping pantheons from the sky. As they landed on the ground they started shooting at them.

"Looks like we're gonna have to put our match on hold," Zero said as he faced the pantheons.

"How typical," Forte change his direction, and let loose the charge he was holding and shot down six pantheons. The two began slicing and shooting the mindless droids as the came in droves. Some pantheons were trying to head to the resistance base but Zero stopped them. Growing frustrated, Forte's buster switched powers. Zero looked appalled when he saw Forte shoot scissors from his hand. The cutters took out twice as many pantheons as before. So he decided to use his shield instead of his saber.

More and more kept come as Zero heard his comm beep, "Zer… ca… u… ear… e, pic..g p path…n ne…our…rea?" there must be interference coming from the sandstorm that was beginning to brew.

Finally the pantheons stopped coming and something else came from the shuttle. The air carrier then flew away as the winds picked up. The landing of the newcomer was hidden in the veil of sand that filled the air. As the winds settled long enough for Zero and Forte to see an orange and white reploid.

"So you're Zero, I hear you're pretty powerful." The new reploid said, his gaze then fell towards Forte. "And you've got to be just as powerful with as big of an energy spike you have there."

Forte gave a toothy grin and looked condescending, "sure thing, if you don't mind us fighting…" he then flipped his cloak reviling his buster was loaded and shouted, "DIRTY!" he then let loose a powerful blast from his buster cannon.

The enormous blast caused Fafnir to dodge hastily and causing more sand to kick up. Zero and Forte covered their eyes, when suddenly Forte felt a stinging sensation and being lifted up in the air, "nice shot Maverick, now let Fight Fafnir show you how it's done!"

Before Zero could process what was happening, Forte was flung into Zero, forcing the red hunter to be thrown across the desert a second time today. As they landed Zero saw a beam of plasma following their course. Zero quickly grabbed Forte by the scruff of his cloak and got the two of them out of harm's way.

"This guy's good," Zero commented as he let Forte go.

"Yeah…" Forte agreed, and then grinned at Zero as he got a new idea. "Alright, new game, first one to beat this lousy X-droid wins."

"Fine," Zero grunted out. The two accused mavericks got in to their stances and rush at Fafnir. Said orange reploid began to shoot up in the air and fire balls rained around Forte and Zero. Drawing closer, Zero slashed at the heavy suited general, but he was soon picked up and thrown into the air. But instead of being shot at Fafnir jumped in the air and latched on to Zero again.

"Hey Zero, I thought you were some kind of legend," Fafnir said as his gun's grip tighten around the red hunter. "Seems to me you're more of a chump!" then with as much force as he could, Fafnir tossed to the ground.

Zero quickly regained his footing as his feet touched the ground and thrusted back up into the air. The Neo Arcadian general sent a rush of buster shots toward the red hunter only for them to be blocked by the Boomerang Shield.

"Alright, now were getting somewhere," Fafnir grinned as he landed back on the ground and Zero mirroring his action. Suddenly, Forte came on the X-droid's left and shot him point blank. Fafnir was thrown back a small distance.

"Stay on the ground if you know what's good for you, you light-bot reject!" Forte shouted at the general.

"I wouldn't insult him," Zero scolded Forte, but his face held a smirk. "What this guy lacks in brains can be made up in strength."

"No duh Zero, I can tell he's not the sharpest saw in the toolbox. Heck, my buster shot may have just knocked some sense into him." Forte announced triumphantly returning the grin.

"Did you two just call me stupid?!" Fafnir shouted. He grunted and got back on his feet. He had a burn blast on his rage-filled face. "I'll show you stupid!" the burly reploid then jumped up in the air and punched the ground with his left gun.

A shockwave spanned out in the direction of Zero and Forte. The blast took them off balance and Fafnir rushed towards them. He laughed and went over to Forte and picked him up by his head. Next he proceeded to punch Forte repeatedly yelling, "I-AM-NOT-STUPID!"

Zero landed on his back and his left shoulder began to spark. As he tried to block out the pain, Zero looked over to see Forte being battered. To his surprise Forte's body armor changed to a gold color and gripped Fafnir's fist. Electricity expanded from his hand as Forte electrocuted Fafnir. The huge brute quickly released Forte as he withered in pain, and Forte fell into unconsciousness. Then it hit Zero…

The lightning chip was strong against fire.

Zero quickly tapped the gem on his forehead and equipped the lighting chip. An almost electric type feeling coursed through his body as he felt a power boost. Zero felt rejuvenated and began to dash back into the battle.

Zero took a few slashes at Fafnir and sparks of electricity conducted through the Z-saber. Fafnir tried to put distance between himself and Zero to perform an attack but the red hunter refused to let up. The general was amazed at the sheer speed of the blond reploid. 'So this is the legend that fought alongside my father.' He thought. Blocking one of Zero's hits, Fafnir spoke to the red reploid.

"Hey Zero, Commander X said that fighting you would show you who the real heroes are, so why are you fighting for these Mavericks and that freak cyborg?" Fafnir huffed, "can't you see we're the good guys!"

"From how I see it, if you're the good guys than I rather stay with, as you put it, 'these Mavericks and freak cyborg.'" Zero said with a righteous fury in his voice and not yielding for a second.

"Fine, have fun being a traitor," the general yelled pushing Zero away.

Finding an opening to shoot Zero Fafnir attempted to shoot Zero, but only got the results of his guns failing. He tried to get them to work but his efforts were useless. Zero stopped momentarily to smirking at his handy work, "looks like you're out of bullets."

Fafnir mirrored Zero's expression, "so I am. I hope you enjoy your victory while it lasts Zero, because one day I will defeat one day!" then the orange reploid teleported away.

"Ugh, I can't believe I use to sound like that!" forte shouted grabbing Zero attention. Forte was sprawled out on his back groaning in pain, "Man, Roll's gonna rip out my circuits for this…" he mumbled to himself.

Zero limped over the black and gold reploid and stood at his feet. "Hey, I won the fight, now tell my about my creator."

"Yeah, yeah, plop on to the sand for a minute and give me a moment." Not feeling in the mood to argue Zero did as instructed. And at first all that could be heard was the sandy wind. Then Forte began, "Your creator was a man known as Dr. Albert Wily. For years he rivaled against Dr. Thomas Light in the field of robotics. The robots they created had their own thoughts and feelings, but were defined by programing."

" Dr. Light was highly praised for his feats, whereas Wily was mostly overlooked. The man was so consumed with jealous that he went insane and tried to show the world what a genius he by trying to take it over."

"Great so my creator _was_ a lunatic," Zero commented off handedly. "It doesn't sound like he seceded, so what happened?"

"Dr. Light's lab assistant, Rock, asked to be modified in order to stop Wily. He was a robot that swore to protect humans and robots in hopes that they could live in harmony together." Forte scoffed, "his older brother always said he had his eyes set on the future."

"Wily, for his part created robot after robot to fight against Megaman, but they all failed at defeating him. Wily labeled them all failures," Forte paused to let out a sigh. "Even me… but I wasn't going to go down quietly, I wasn't going to be thrown away like the others. I was going to prove to him, to everyone that I was the ultimate warrior that I was better than Mega Man."

"What got in the way?" Zero asked.

"What got in the way were Wily's obedience protocols, I hated following Wily's orders, and I would find ways just to ignore them, but it wasn't until Mega Man's sister found me broke down that I finally had them removed. Since then I stopped pursuing Wily's goals, especially since he decided that you would be his last greatest achievement." Forte gave a slight chuckle, "turns out you're a failure too."

"Humph," Zero grunted, "hardly, I'm the reason that the planet's a total wasteland. Wily implanted a virus in me that caused reploids to go Maverick."

"Shut up," Forte groused, "I hear enough of that 'poor me' stuff from Mega-dweeb twenty-four seven. Take some advice from your brother, just because you messed up doesn't mean you can't fix it. Heck, you're doing it right now with the resistance."

"Speaking of witch, I need to call Ciel for a transfer," Zero was too tired to carry Forte. As he was about to call a beep came on and the woman's less than happy voice came through the speaker.

"You two better be dying, because if not, I'm gonna kill the both of you." Forte and Zero just laughed at her comment as Ciel tried to sound threatening.

…

"You me you weren't not here for Axl?" Ciel looked at Forte Astounded. Evening came and now Forte was now sitting at her office desk looking like he was in a scrap of sorts; he refused any extensive repairs. The blond scientist handed him a sub-tank waiting for him to explain.

"No, I came because Kalinka contacted us to get in touch with you." Forte said taking a drink of the green liquid. "I came personally to see what you've been up to. Then I caught the channel feed from your comm and went from there. Axl then briefed me of your situation."

Ciel gave a grumbling noise, "she's always on me about breaking the rules, but when she does it, its _fine_." She the then paused and returned to the conversation at hand. "So what was so urgent that mom had to call?"

"Since you guys busted Zero out, there's been attacks on a few random humans. Three have so far have been driven into manic states and there were no drugs or fingerprints." Forte explained taking another sip of the growing green fuel.

"So the humans automatically assume it was reploids," Ciel sighed, "did they try searching for energy signatures, being exposed to certain radiations can affect the brain."

"They did and guess what energy researcher they blamed it on." Forte pointed out.

Ciel quickly shot up, "but I'd never hurt humans…" then a thought occurred to her. "Is that why you fought Zero, to give enough of an energy burst to detour Neo Arcadia away from me?"

"Ah don't flatter yourself, pinky, I also just wanted to settle an old vendetta." Forte waved away Ciel's speculation. "Besides, we Scavengers are always on the move; there ain't no way gonna be able to completely track us."

"Still, if I didn't hurt the humans and you didn't…then who?" Ciel wondered.

"Dun no," said Forte as he finished his sub-tank. "But if you want answer the best person to get them from is Kalinka. I'll make sure you can get into contact with her when I get help from the Scavengers."

"That does remind me…" Ciel began to mention, "Can you fine us a way to get into Neo Arcadia without causing a big distraction."

"What, are you, crazy?!" Forte gave her an indignant look. "You know how risky that is, and I still don't trust that Alia chick."

"Without her we wouldn't have Zero, so she's not all bad." Ciel defended, Alia had been a great help to her more ways than one.

"yes, and it got eight of your men killed, including you SIC," Forte pointed out rather harshly. Ciel lowered her head and stared at her hands. It was a low blow and the finned reploid knew it.

"You know," Ciel finally spoke up after a moment of silence. "I'm pretty sure Zero fallows a strict warriors' code. If he finds out that you were holding back in your fight he would be highly offended. He might even go far as to mention to Axl how you and he are related." She gave a sly smile hoping he would take the bait.

Forte suddenly had a horrible vision of many reploids teasing how Forte was a 'big brother.' "You have no proof I was holding back," Forte voiced full of dread, "or that Zero and I share a creator."

"Of course I do I have the entire thing recorded; before and after Fafnir showed up," Ciel said as she pulled data disk from her desk and waved in front of Forte's face. "Also Axl could surely confirm the video."

Forte was silent before he threw Ciel a toothy grin, "Blackmail…I taught you well." He said smoothly then continued, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." She told him, and then he left her office. The young woman then let out a sigh and sunk into her chair. The day had been long and right now all Ciel wanted to do was sleep. She got up from her desk and turned the lights off and walked out the door.

 **Next chapter is going to be a bit of a time skip and some fluff, and hopefully won't take five months to write.**


	7. Chapter 7 Lost Lark Pt1

**this is gonna be another two parter chapter and sorry for not updating this for awhile I had other plot bunnies attacking me and life in general. anyway enjoy. Also I had posted early but I don't celebrate holidays and forgot it was one. ZX sorry for the mix up, I unblocked you.**

Chap. 7

Night had fallen on Neo Arcadia but it was not peaceful in the X tower. Nearly two weeks have passed since the destruction of the Disposal Factory. Word had spread quickly of the Mavericks acquiring a red fighter whom had previously allied himself with X, had now become an enemy. Humans became scared of the dangerous reploids outside the wall. Fortunately, nothing got loose about the scientists that were attacked, but that doesn't stop the whispers of danger.

"ARGH!" bellowed an angry voice in the chambers of X tower. A blue reploid laid his head in his hands as he sat at his war room table, the Commander of the Mavericks hunters of Neo Arcadia, Megaman X.

Zero betrayed everything X and he fought for, and now he was a threat to the peaceful utopia X had created. The humans' fear had returned in the form of his former partner. Not only that, but from what X gathered from Fafnir's report there seemed to be more reploids beyond just the resistance.

The footage taken from the prison in the desert showed a strange reploid helping Zero and Axl. What was a struggle for the two Mavericks was an easy feat for the new comer. This made X regret not keeping a better eye on Ciel; she must be accumulating more power to come and take over Neo Arcadia.

Or worse overthrow him and let Zero take over like his human creator wanted.

X then went to his intercom and pressed a square button, "Leviathan, Phantom, and Harpuia come to the war room to discuss our next phase of attack."

…

The night was difficult for Zero. As he slept his mind was plagued with nightmares, the past had begun to come back for a few days now. Iris' death was playing in his mind again. Some changes had appeared; for instance when Zero would run to her side she would raise her hand up to warn him of the incoming grinder from the Disposal Factory, or X coming from behind and shooting him in the back.

Fed up with his latest bout of nightmares, Zero set out for the roof. He saw the moon and star shine brightly as he stood at the opening. He could see the ruins of an old human city's shadows glide on the ground. Beyond its horizon Zero also saw the 'X' shaped building be a beacon for Neo Arcadia.

Almost lost in thought, Zero heard the shuffling of paper behind a set of crates. As he went around to check them he was surprised at who he found.

"Alouette," he asked quietly as not to scare her, but still she gave a slight jump at the sound of her name. She then look and realized that it was Zero so she relaxed.

"Hi, Mr. Zero," she said cheerfully as she held a grey folder in her lap. Some of its contents were on top of the portfolio. It showed to be colored sketches in great detail.

"What are you doing up," Zero asked the girl as she shifted a bit in her spot nervously. "It's nearly two in the morning."

"I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I came up here to look at these drawings." She said as Zero gave a look that asked where the drawings came from. "I found them hidden here a year ago." the blond girl pointed to a hole in one of the crates.

"I see…but would you like to look at them in a better light, you could hurt your optics." Zero pointed out. Not saying he didn't want her around, but he could have used the alone time.

"Maybe, but I like looking at them out here, the base can be so cramped." The little girl said as she sifted through the papers. Alouette then lifted a sheet towards Zero, "here, this one's my favorite."

Zero took the paper in his hand and stared at it with great detail, and couldn't help but smile. It showed old Andrew sitting at a table, smiling at an old woman with grey hair. She too was smiling happily, with loving wrinkly eyes at Andrew. They both held hands as silent words passed between them; a human and a reploid hand in hand. Zero then saw the signature on the bottom of the right-hand corner.

Enzen Chaud.

"Alouette, do you know who drew these?" he asked the girl mildly curious.

The girl looked over at Zero and then at the paper, "not really. I think he was retired before I got to know anyone here. I was only active for three hours when the resistance rescued me. Then I imprinted on Ciel and that's why she's my Mommy," She said happily thinking of her mother.

"What was the purpose of your creation?" Zero asked the small child reploid.

"What do you mean?" Alouette gave a confused look to the warrior, "Mommy says I can be whatever I want to be."

"Most reploids are built as adults to fulfill a purpose," Zero clarified. "They then are taught how to interact with the people around them."

"Not me, I was created as a baby and I get to grow into an adult!" Alouette said cheerfully and then her face became thoughtful, "or at least that what I was a prototype for, but Neo Arcadia shut down the project and retired my mother and father units before I could even imprint on them."

Zero grew silent at this revelation; he didn't know what to make of it. The fact that Alouette had a chance to grow like any human child was an amazing prospect. The little reploid before him then gave a thoughtful look and fixed her gaze on Zero.

"Mr. Zero… do you cry in your sleep?" she asked out of the blue.

The reploid saw the serious in her and wondered where it came from. Had he ever cried in his sleep? "No…I don't think so," Zero answered, "why do you ask?"

"It's why I can't sleep…" Alouette answered back pulling her knees up with the portfolio still in her lap. She looked down sadly at the book before she spoke again, "I cry in my sleep a lot. I have nightmares about the four guardians coming and killing us. I don't want Mommy to know because she worries a lot and now with uncle Milan dead… they got worse…" the child teared up as she let out a sob.

Zero recalled the fight he and his brother had with the general, Fafnir. He had asked Alia whom they were and found out they were X's elites. Sage Harpuia was the lead general, Hidden Phantom was espionage, Fairy Leviathan was the hacker, and Fafnir was weapons expert.

The fact that they made this child cry shows the fierceness of their reputation… but Zero was fiercer. He placed a hand on Alouette's head and spoke gently, "Alouette, if you like, I could stand guard by your room, if that will help you sleep?"

"You would do that," the reploid child sniffed. The red hunter responded with a nod, and then was giving a hug and many thanks by the small child.

…

When Ciel got up this morning she didn't expect to find Zero propped up against a wall across from her door. He was in a seated position like a guard; Zero's head laid on his left arm witch plopped on top of his left knee.

Ciel leaned in closer to the sleeping reploid to make sure he didn't shutdown or something like that. "Zero," she asked, and only then realized her face was a bit too close to his as he jolted awake. In the split second their forehead gems touched, a small spark connected between them ever so briefly. Ciel jumped back with a small squeal and Zero stood straight up.

Zero woke as soon as he heard his name he bolted up; he soon realized that Ciel was right in front of him. She was as shocked as he was and then he remembered his conversation with Alouette. It must have been morning by now.

Before Zero could ask Ciel what time it was, she suddenly began to apologize, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" her voice was high-pitched as she spoke frantic. She didn't mean to get so close to him; she just wanted to make sure he was okay. "So why were you sleeping in the hall?" Ciel asked as she absent-mindedly rubbed her forehead. She chocked up the sensation as just nerves.

"I found Alouette in the middle of the night, she was having nightmares and I offered to stay nearby as a guard." The red hunter stated Tingling also still being felt in his head. What was that?

"Oh I see," Ciel nodded in understanding, "and you're still having nightmares, too?" the pink cladded scientist recalled Zero mentioning it only to brush it off as no big deal. This troubled Ciel but she was unsure at how to address it.

Zero didn't have time to give a response as Axl had come running into the hall. "Hey morning you two," He said with some pep in his step. "You two ready to start the day?"

Zero groaned a bit, "it should be illegal for you to be this cheerful in the morning." This got an even bigger smile out the young reploid.

Ciel giggled, "I have to agree with Zero on this one, Axl." Her tone was full of mirth, "I at least have to have some coffee in me, before I can start the day." Then again sometimes not even coffee could make her feel energized enough to take on the day.

"Well you'll perk up when I tell you that we got contact from the boss, and by this time tomorrow the express train will be coming in." Forte instructed the young reploid to stay with the resistance so they could stay in contact with the Scavengers until they arrive with help toward evacuations.

"Really," Ciel practically shouted with joy as she clasped her hands together. The last time she had seen anyone of the other Scavengers was five years ago. Their constant moving made it difficult to get help from them. "Axl that's fantastic! We'll finally be able to leave this place!"

-"Really, we get to go to a new home?!" Alouette, whom had just come out of the room, exclaimed with excitement. She had always wanted to see new places, but had to always stay in the base to be safe. She then turned to Zero and gave him into the biggest hug her little body could muster. "Thank you Mr. Zero for helping us get a new home and keeping the scary bad reploids away!" said this while beaming up at him.

Zero returned with a small smile and patted her head. He wasn't sure what to say as he felt a mix of warmth and awkwardness. He finally settled for a 'you're welcome'.

Ciel's heart also warmed at the sight, but she didn't realize she begun to stare at Zero for a little too long. Axl notice but didn't find it in himself to tease about the infatuated look on Ciel face. It was rare of her to show a genuine smile that held no burdens.

Then once Alouette broke the hug and turned to ask Ciel a question. "Mommy, can Mr. Zero be-"

-" **Ms. Ciel, Mr. Zero, Mr. Axl, please come to the command room immediately!** " the reploid intercom spoke and was cut off when a rumble shook through the base. Dust fell off the ceiling as the rumble grew more aggressive.

"Alouette head into the closet now!" Ciel took the frightened girl back into their room and told her to stay in the closet until she came back. The girl nodded but was still frightened tears threated to fall as she clutched her doll tight. The door was shut leaving the girl to only see a thin beam of light.

Ciel rushed out of the room with the door closing behind her, but Alouette wasn't alone for long. A figure teleported into the room; this caused the girl's eyes to widen in fear as she peeked through the crack in the door.

The figure stood in mostly black save for the white bird-like mask on his face, and the red scarf around his neck. His eyes in a menacing purple as he looked around the room. He began to search for something; looking through draws, underneath Ciel's desk, then the figure stopped as he found one of many of Ciel's dairy books. Ciel mostly wrote her feeling in them, but never anything important, she packed the important stuff away.

Alouette stayed as still as she could and hope that the figure didn't come toward the closet. Her hopes were dashed, though, as the light from the crack disappeared. The figure then began to slide open the closet door and Alouette was too frightened to scream…

…

Ciel got to the command room to see the cameras pick up footage of a giant orange tank. It was equipped with missiles and hatch that releases mechanaloids. The front had a bulldozer like wheel with spikes that tore up the ground of the disposal factory. In some ways it looked like a mole as it dug up the decrepit machinery.

"Zero, Axl, a Hittite Hottide is head in our direction," Ciel said urgently over the intercom as the two reploids were headed through the trans-server. "Please, destroy it quickly before it takes us out!"

The two then transported outside to fight the looming threat. The two were transported behind the mechaniloid and began attacking it from behind. Once it was destroyed, Axl and Zero exchanged glances as they were on the same line of thinking.

"Uh…was that a little too easy," Axl voice his thoughts to Zero. The red hunter placed his saber back in his left holster.

"It was," Zero agreed and then pressed the intercom, "Ciel is the base alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine…" she paused mid-way in her sentence as she tapped on her computer. "Hold on I'm picking up an unknown teleportation signal." And it was coming from her room! Ciel stood and ran out of the command room. She told Zero and Axl to make it back quick as she rushed down the hall to open her room.

There she found Alouette's cat doll in the middle of the floor. As she picked it up she found a cyber Kunai stabbed in its back. As more soldiers came by to see what was going on, Ciel heard a noise coming from the closet. She took a peek and saw what it was…

A time bomb.

"Move from the door!" Ciel yelled as she rushed to push herself and her men away from the door. Then the roar of an explosion rocked the hallway. Debris hit Ciel's back as she barely missed the flames, and the shockwave threw her and two others to the floor.

Zero, Cerveau, and Axl ran and came upon the scene. The three saw Ciel and the other reploids struggle to get up. "What happened," the engineer asked as Zero came to check Ciel for injuries and Axl helped the other two reploids up.

"We need to get her medical attention, now!" Zero voiced full of urgency as he saw the shrapnel in her back. He carefully took her in his arms. He knew the resistance had very little medical supplies, but what they had would have to do.

"H-he took her…P-Phantom took Alouette," the blond cyborg said in discomfort trying to ignore the pain in her back. She still held on to the cat doll and weapon.

"H-he left a messaged Kunai…" Ciel said as Zero as he set her down on a repair table. She took the cyber knife and pressed a button on the hilt. A hologram appeared showing its owner.

"Zero, I am Hidden Phantom of the Four generals. I wish to challenge you to a duel; if you do not face me in the desert by sunset I will order my subordinate to execute the maverick child." The message paused, "As for Dr. Ciel, consider the 'gift' I left as a warning, Commander X's generosity for you is growing thin. If you continue to be foolish then there will be no pardon for your errors."

The message ended as Cerveau came to give Ciel medical care. This was low even for X; Zero tightly gripped the kunai and finally spoke, "Ciel, I'll get Alouette back. I promise." She muttered a painful thanks as she fell into unconsciousness.

Axl then came rushing in with some more bad news, "hey, guys, I just got word that we're being hacked and they've traced the location back to the underground prison."

Cerveau gave a heavy sigh, "Axl, you're going to have to go and investigated the hacking. Zero can you give Axl you fire chip, I have a feeling he might need it."

…

Alouette heard chirping above her head, opening her eyes she saw green grass. She could tell it was artificial due to the cyber trace lines and lands on the blades. The last thing Alouette remembered was being knocked out by the scary masked reploid. She looked around to see trees full of green leaves and robotic birds.

"Glad to see you're awake, little one," said a voice that made Alouette jump in her tracks. She slowly turned around and saw a reploid. He was tall and had gold and green armor with a dark blue in between. He had a green cloak with broad shoulders and his face was had some scar under his right eye. His left eye was completely covers by his rectangular red and green helmet.

Alouette stumbled backwards afraid of the tall figure. She tried to make a run for it, but she had caught the attention a hive of a bee-like mechaniloids. They made a straight shot for her as she covered her as Alouette tried to protect herself. She expected herself to feel the stabs of their stingers but instead she heard the sound of shots going over her head.

Uncovering herself, Alouette saw that the same reploid she was running from had took out the mechaniloids. "Are you okay, little one?" The tall reploid knelt down to meet the small child's gaze.

"Why did you save me?"

"because you were in danger, and had no way of protecting yourself," the tall reploid spoke again.

"But you're Neo Arcadian, you think I'm a maverick," Alouette said confused. Was he trying to trick her?

The tall reploid gave a small smile, "you don't look maverick to me, besides just because I work for Neo Arcadia doesn't mean I like what they're doing." Alouette decided he could be trusted and smiled at him.

"My name is Alouette, What's your name?" she stuck her hand out for him to shake. The tall reploid took it and answered her.

"My name is Kraft, it's nice to meet you Alouette."

 **cliffy! please review and please no cursing in the review section**


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